Felony
by Third Kind
Summary: Loads of fish have been going missing every weekend night in Bikini Bottom for years. Surely those disappearances weren't linked to the Chum Bucket... right? Darkfic. Rated for violence and character death. Now complete!
1. Prologue

**Long time, no see, eh? Yes, I'm back with a new fanfic after months of hiatus! And this one's going to be both a darkfic and a multi-chapter fic (if and when I get the ideas and motivation to move the plot along...).**

**So yeah, this is only the prologue. Enjoy!**

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><p><span><strong>Prologue<strong>

It was a dark, rainy, miserable night as Fred the fish walked down the road after a long, hard day at work, followed by a couple of hours at a bar. It wasn't actually a long walk to his house – just walk down the main road, turn left, and then he would be at his house. But the strong winds and pounding rain made his journey home more difficult than usual.

To be honest, Fred didn't want to go home at all. He knew his wife would throw a fit when he'd step through his front door, with the scent of alcohol on his breath. For all he knew, he could have stayed out all night, but the weather would have proved impossible to survive in. And the weather was the reason he was here now, slowly and reluctantly walking home, to the breaking relationship he was stuck in.

Fred was wearing a long, brown coat, which matched his brown skin and gills, along with a brown hat. He was doing his best to avoid letting the hat be blown away by the wind. Despite the clothing, he still had goosebumps on his arms and legs from the sheer, bitter cold. Fred cursed the horrid weather, knowing it was the reason he had to go home.

After a while, the darkened buildings of Bikini Bottom slowly turned into coral trees. 'The trees look threatening,' the brown fish thought to himself. He was right too; the trees would have looked dangerous to anyone who wasn't familiar with the area, especially that night, with the wind making the branches fly wildly in the air, like something out of an old-fashioned ghost story. But Fred had seen those trees hundreds, maybe even thousands of times. He knew the area like the back of his hand.

He started to focus less on the drama awaiting him when he got home, to the sounds his footsteps were making on the pavement. He found that they took his mind off the weather slightly.

_One step. Two steps. Three steps._

He started to forget about his depressing life, as he started thinking about the life he could have had. 'I could have been someone,' he thought angrily. 'I could have changed the world if I could. But no. I'm stuck here in this hick town, with a crappy job and a nag for a wife.' He started to curse the world around him, blaming everyone else he knew for his problems.

_Step. Step. Step. _

_**Step.**_

Fred suddenly jumped out of his thoughts, as he heard a loud footstep behind him. He turned around to see no-one there. He was pretty sure he was the only person on the pavement and he didn't think any animal could have made that noise. Creepy, he thought. Then he started walking again.

The noise reminded Fred about all the horror stories he had read as a child. He used to love being scared in his bedroom as a kid. Besides, that footstep he heard was only in his imagination! He laughed it off and continued walking.

_Step. Step. Step. _

There! 'Back to familiar sounds,' he thought. He knew he was the only person around. He would have known if someone was behind him. He knew that-

_**Step.**_

There was that noise again. Fred felt his pulse quicken. _That_ wasn't his imagination playing tricks on him. He heard it as clear as a bell. A footstep landing hard on the pavement, he heard it.

Fred scanned the area, but all he could see was the trees. The darkness and the rain made it much more difficult to see. There could have been a monster behind one of those trees. Maybe even more! Maybe ten... or a hun-.

'Oh come on, man! That's stupid!' he thought. 'You know monsters don't exist!' But he _was_ worried that someone was truly following him.

Fred decided to test if there was someone there. He raised a leg in the air and-

_**Step.**_

His leg froze in the air. That was definitely the sound of another person, all right. It was obviously too loud to be an animal. The sound was too sharp.

_**Step!**_

The sound was closer this time. Fred wanted to run, to get away from this slowly-forming nightmare. But he couldn't run. He was paralysed to the spot.

_**Step. Step. Step.**_

The footsteps were coming towards him!

Fred slowly turned his head around, expecting the worst. Had he been right about the monster? Was it going to eat him? Or worse?

The dreaded footsteps stopped and Fred could make out a very small figure.

He spoke to the figure; "Um, hello?" he questioned.

The figure didn't reply. Then Fred saw a glint in the figure's pocket. The brown fish's eyes widened. That's it. He was going to-

**BANG!**

Fred cried out "MY LEG!" as he stumbled to the ground. He could feel the blood on his hand from his wound, despite the darkness. The figure walked to his face. Fred could see that the figure was extremely tiny. How he could wield that gun, he didn't know.

The figure spoke to him; "It's best if you don't scream," he spoke calmly, as if he just didn't shoot a random passer-by.

Fred didn't take his advice and tried to scream. His attacker had no choice but to finish the job.

**BANG!**

Blood poured out of Fred's head, where the gunshot wound was. His eyes were still open. All the figure did was smile.

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><p><strong>Yeah... that was pretty dark, even for me. Feel free to review, please! I love reading reviews!<strong>


	2. Chapter 1: Normalcy

**Here's the proper start to the story AKA Chapter One. Sorry about the wait, guys. Writer's Block strikes often with me. Enjoy though!**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter One - Normalcy<strong>

Life carried on as normal in Bikini Bottom the next day. The citizens continued their ordinary lives, as if nothing ever happened last night.

At the Krusty Krab, SpongeBob SquarePants was happily busy at his job as a fry cook, while Squidward Tentacles was moping around at the cash register, as usual. Meanwhile, Eugene Krabs was hoarding his piles of money in his office, while customers came and went, with pains of hunger as they walked in and satisfied stomachs as they walked out.

No-one in the Krusty Krab knew about the horrors that would later await them.

Squidward pulled out that day's issue of the Bikini Bottom Inquirer. The headline screamed; '**LOCAL MAN MISSING'**, with a picture of the man in question. Squidward began to read the article:

_A young man has been reported missing after he did not return to his home last night. The man, known locally by his first name of Fred, was last seen at 7:00pm on Friday night, according to his colleagues. He was reported missing by his wife after he did not return home. The police are treating the disappearance as suspicious and are currently investigating.  
>Fred is described as a brown fish, who was last seen wearing a brown coat and hat. It is now known that he was having problems with his relationship before he disappeared. If you know any information, please report to the Bikini Bottom Police Department.<em>

'Another one gone missing,' Squidward thought. 'Old news now, unfortunately.'

Suudenly, SpongeBob appeared outside his work station.

"Hi Squidward!", shouted the sponge, gleefully. Squidward was startled and almost dropped his paper. The yellow imbecile looked over Squidward's shoulder to read the paper.

"Someone else gone missing?" he asked.

"Get away from me!" cried the cephalopod. "Besides, people have been going missing for years now! This is pretty much old news!"

What Squidward was saying was pretty much true. Bikini Bottomites had been going missing every Friday night for years. The police had been baffled – usually, no clues were ever found afterwards. It was like they had vanished from the face of the Earth.

"You'd think they'd have given up on looking for the culprit!" said Squidward.

"But as long as it carries on, they're still gonna look for him!" defended SpongeBob. As the wide-eyed idealist he was, he always thought that the missing would one day be found and that the culprit would be captured and be sent to jail for life. Squidward, being the sponge's opposite as a cynicist, had long given up for justice.

Squidward didn't bother retorting. He ignored the annoyance and continued reading his paper. Mr Krabs then came out of his office, with a look of irritation on his face.

"Get back to work, you two! We have hungry money- I mean, customers, who want to spend their money- I mean, eat here!" The employees complied with their boss.

A few moments later, Patrick Star walked through the double doors.

"Good morning, Krusty Crew!" said Patrick, happily.

"Mornin' Pat!" replied SpongeBob.

'Oh dear Neptune...' Squidward despaired in his mind. He was going to have to put up with the World's Worst Neighbours until at least his boss threw the pink moron out of the restaurant for loitering.

SpongeBob and Patrick, meanwhile, were busy talking about the news of the missing fish in the paper.

"How many people have gone missing now?" asked Patrick.

"I don't think anyone bothers to count now," replied SpongeBob, sadly. "Even I've stopped."

There was a brief silence.

"Soo..." Patrick thought aloud, trying to think of a way to brighten up the mood. "Wanna go to Goofy Goober's Ice Cream Party Boat tonight?"

"Heck yeah!" replied SpongeBob, with childish glee.

The two friends laughed together. Squidward, who had been forced to listen to the conversation the whole time, was getting increasingly agitated. He could feel his face twitch from rising anger. If Patrick hadn't had said goodbye to SpongeBob after their conversation, the cephalopod would have probably snapped. Then again, he was always close to having a nervous breakdown around those two.

Patrick walked out of the doors and stopped in front of the lonely and derelict Chum Bucket. He stared at the building, wondering what Plankton, his friend's boss' rival was doing.

Then, in the corner of Patrick's eye, he thought he saw Plankton staring at him from one of the front windows. Patrick had to blink and rub his eyes. When he looked at the same window again, he couldn't see him. 'Pfft, my imagination,' he thought and walked down the road to his rock.

_If only the starfish hadn't stopped in front of the Chum Bucket..._

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><p><strong>Whooo... worrying cliffhanger! You just know things will go downhill from here...<strong>

**...Ugh... keeping everyone in character isn't exactly one of my strong points. -_- But feel free to review!**


	3. Chapter 2: Intemperance

**Finally, I finished this chapter! Laziness and exam revision stopped me from actually starting it. :|**

**Quick note/warning: drunken violence is involved in this chapter. If anyone has seen the SpongeBob movie, you'll probably know what Sponge and Pat get drunk **_**off. **_**Also, OOCness abounds, unfortunately.**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter Two - Intemperance<strong>

Saturday night was abuzz with with many Bikini Bottomites walking around town, having fun and not letting anything filled with despair interrupt their night.

However, the same could not be said for SpongeBob, who was sitting in the bar in Goofy Goober's Party Boat with a worried look on his face. Patrick, who was sitting next to him, was oblivious to his friend's current state as he was busy eating an ice-cream sundae. It was only until he turned to look at his friend that he realised something was wrong.

"Hey, buddy... SpongeBob? What's wrong?" the pink starfish asked.

"Huh?" Patrick had broken SpongeBob's chain of thoughts. "Oh, I'm fine, Pat. You didn't have to ask."

"No really, what's wrong?"

"It's just... ever since that newspaper report today, I've been worrying that... _I'll go missing next!"_

"What? No! You're being paranoid, Sponge!"

"Listen to me, Pat! Why do I still believe that the culprit will be found? He's still kidnapping people to this day! Then again, I don't even _know_ if someone _is_ actually kidnapping them! They could just simply be disappearing of their own accord! Why should I still keep my hopes up! You've read today's story! Give me a good reason, Pat, _**A GOOD REASON!"**_

The customers in the bar turned their heads around to SpongeBob as he shouted out the last three words. Patrick became scared – he had never seen his best friend act like this. He noticed that the sponge's eyes became filled with anger and despair. His small brain finally clocked something; it seemed that SpongeBob's idealism was slowly being destroyed.

"SpongeBob..." Patrick whispered. "Please... people are watching you".

"**I DON'T CARE!" **SpongeBob shouted. "Who knows who'll go missing next? It could be _you_, Patrick! Or maybe the bartender!" The bartender stared at SpongeBob. "Or maybe even one of the people in this room!"

Patrick simply stared straight ahead. The customers looked on, watching the crazy sponge at the bar yell at the pink starfish. SpongeBob finally came to his senses and saw the crowd staring at him.

"...I'm sorry Pat..." SpongeBob quickly ran out of the bar, the customers still watching.

SpongeBob ran out of the Party Boat, the cold night air enveloping him. The sponge shivered, but he didn't care. He never meant to yell at his best friend. 'He must hate me now', he thought. 'Dammit, SpongeBob, why did you have to say that crap?' He stopped running and looked across to the lights of Bikini Bottom. He saw two girls walking across the road, obviously drunk in SpongeBob's eyes. 'They'll be lucky if they even make it home,' he thought.

"SpongeBob!" a voice called out to him. SpongeBob turned around and saw Patrick running towards him. He didn't know whether to run away from him or not. He felt so guilty.

"SpongeBob! SpongeBob!" Patrick stopped running when he reached him. "Please don't worry about something as stupid as that! I promise you won't disappear, like those other people! And I swear to God, if you do, I'll go find you, even if it takes all my life. I promise."

SpongeBob smiled. "I'd do the same thing too, Pat."

"Come on, buddy! Let's get some ice-cream!"

"Yeah!" replied SpongeBob, happy that they were friends again.

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><p>The night went swimmingly for the two friends. They gorged on as much ice-cream as their stomachs could handle. However, by midnight, they had reached their last ice-cream and they were completely intoxicated. Tensions were beginning to rise between the two on who would eat the last ice-cream.<p>

"I think _I_ should have it." said SpongeBob, hiccuping after his sentence.

"No way!" Patrick replied. "I should have it!" Patrick slumped in his chair, with a dazed look in his eyes.

"No, I should have it!"

"No, me!"

"**NO, ME!"**

SpongeBob then punched Patrick in the face. Of course, SpongeBob had no idea what he was doing, as the ice-cream had somehow similar affects to alcohol and he was drunk out of his mind. Patrick retaliated by punching him back. Soon, a bar fight had broken out between a sponge and a starfish. While horrified party-goers watched in fascination, the bartender dialled 911 for the police. Patrick meanwhile, was dealt a final blow by SpongeBob, knocking the overweight starfish to the ground, falling unconscious. SpongeBob later passed out, falling unconscious like his "friend". The bartender, seeing the brawlers passed out on the floor, told the operator on the phone to send for an ambulance.

Amidst the chaos, a small, shadowy figure was watching the ruckus from one of the windows. As the crowd around them cleared, he could see SpongeBob and Patrick on the floor. The figure stared at Patrick the longest. An evil smile appeared on his face, his teeth brightening up the night._ Oh yes, Patrick, you'll be next..._

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><p><strong>I swear to God I wasn't trying to hint at SpongePat during this chapter. In fact, I don't even like SpongeBob slash. Hmm... just goes to show. :|**

**Yes, the word 'intemperance' is synonymous with 'drunkenness'. (Yeah, I've been using a thesaurus to come up with my chapter titles...).**

**I think this chapter could have been better... feel free to review, as always! :D**


	4. Chapter 3: Disappearance

**Finally got this chapter done before I go on holiday next week. Sorry about the wait. Enjoy, anyways!**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 3 – Disappearance<strong>

_...Where am I..?_

_...What happened last night..?_

_...I can't remember anything..._

"_...SpongeBob? Can ya' hear me?"_

_That voice... that recognisable voice... it's..._

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><p>SpongeBob slowly, but groggily woke up. The world around him was fuzzy and spinning around slowly; he couldn't make out where he was. His head was aching like hell, and he didn't have the strength to move his body, let alone his thumping head.<p>

"SpongeBob? Do you know where you are?"

It was that voice again. SpongeBob turned to the direction where he heard it. Standing beside him was something, or rather, _someone_ brown and white. He still couldn't see properly.

"SpongeBob! It's me! Can't ya' see?"

'Hang on...' SpongeBob thought in his confused mind. 'That sounds like... _Sandy?_'

SpongeBob's distorted vision finally cleared. He could make out the brown and white figure to be his other best friend, Sandy Cheeks. Her face looked pensive, a face SpongeBob hardly ever saw around her.

'How long has she been here?' SpongeBob thought to himself. 'Has she sat here all night by my side?'

"SpongeBob? Are you alright?" Sandy asked, with a worried tone in her voice. "Do you remember what happened?"

SpongeBob tried to answer, but he could only manage an almost-silent groan; "...Sandy? Where am I..?"

The squirrel's anxious expression turned into one of relief; "SpongeBob! Thank God you're OK!" Sandy gently hugged the still-fragile sponge. SpongeBob managed to smile – it was the best thing that had happened to him since last night, whatever on earth had happened.

"Don't worry Sandy. I'm fine," SpongeBob replied weakly. "But where the heck am I? And what happened last night? I ate so much ice cream I can't even think properly, let alone remember..."

"You're in the hospital," Sandy informed him. "Someone called me saying that you were all passed out on the floor of a bar. I came right away." Sandy gently held SpongeBob's hand. The sponge felt a light blush coming on – the two didn't usually get this close to each other.

"Do you know anything else?" the hungover sponge asked.

"No..." replied the caring squirrel, sadly.

SpongeBob laid his head back onto the hospital bed. He'd just have to wait until his memory came back.

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><p>A few hours later, SpongeBob and Sandy walked out of the hospital doors, with the stronger squirrel holding the weak, still-hungover sponge. It was almost impossible for SpongeBob to walk anywhere without falling to the ground.<p>

While walking back to SpongeBob's pineapple (with Gary obviously pining for his master's late return), the amnesic sponge's memory started to recover.

"Sandy?" SpongeBob asked.

"Yeah, SpongeBob?"

"I think I remember something about last night. I was with someone else. I didn't pass out randomly. I think me and the other guy got into a fight."

"A barfight?" Sandy replied, trying to hide her shock.

"Yeah... a barfight. Can't remember with who though," said SpongeBob, sadly.

"...Don't worry. You'll remember. Let's just get you home," said Sandy.

"OK..." sighed the sponge. He started to think; 'Why would I get into a fight in the first place? And who did I fight with?'

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><p>When the two finally reached the pineapple, SpongeBob was resting on the couch with a comfy blanket wrapped around him, while Sandy was on the shellphone explaining to Mr. Krabs as to why his best fry cook wouldn't be at work for a few days.<p>

"Yes, I know how much this'll affect the KK... look, he's not well at all! He passed out last night in a bar for God's sake! Well, now he's telling me he got into a fight but... _**you tightwad!**_" Sandy slammed the phone down, waking SpongeBob up slightly.

"Hmm..?"

Sandy walked over to the couch. "Don't worry, Sponge. I've told your boss you won't be here for a couple days. He... wasn't very happy about it, to say the least."

"I could tell," replied SpongeBob, weakly.

"Just go back to sleep. I'll ring Patrick later to tell him what happened." And with that, Sandy walked into the kitchen.

'Ah, Pat doesn't know what happened to me...' SpongeBob thought as he slowly went back to sleep. Suddenly, he had a flashback:

"_I think _I_ should have it."_

"_No way! I should have it!"_

"_No, I should have it!"_

"_No, me!"_

"_**NO, ME!"**_

SpongeBob woke up with a start. "P-Patrick!" he cried out. He couldn't believe that he had gotten into a barfight with his best friend, of all people. At that point, his mind opened up new scenes of the previous night.

"I remember now! Me and Pat were having a good time... then there was something about... ice cream? Then we started punching each other and all hell broke loose. Who won the fight though?" SpongeBob put both his hands to his head. "I think I knocked Pat unconscious, then I passed out." At the sudden realization of what happened that night, SpongeBob's face turned to one of horror.

"Patrick!" the sponge shouted. Lifting his body off the couch, leaving the blanket lying on the floor, he staggered as fast as he could to the kitchen.

"Sandy!" SpongeBob cried out in the kitchen door. "Sandy! It was Patrick I was fighting with! Is he in the hospital? I want to know if he's OK!"

"The staff didn't mention about a starfish," replied Sandy, slightly confused.

"Is he at home? Where is he? I want to apologize!" SpongeBob was growing tearful.

"Alright, alright! I'll go to Pat's rock right now!" Sandy rushed to the door. "Just stay here, OK?"

"Please hurry, Sandy!" cried SpongeBob. Sandy left the pineapple to Patrick's rock. SpongeBob walked back to the couch, his head in his hands, crying.

"Patrick... where are you? I hope you're OK..." SpongeBob cried into his hands. Gary had crawled into the room by this time, and he noticed there was something wrong with his master. He was crying again, but it didn't look like it was over something stupid this time. The snail crawled over to the couch he liked to rip up, where the upset sponge was sitting.

"Meow?"

"Oh, Garebear. I didn't mean for you to see me like this."

"Meow?"

"Oh, me and Pat got into... a little fall-out last night, if you know what I mean. I want to know if he's fine."

"Meow."

"No, it was NOT over ice cream!"

"Meow."

"Oh, what's the point of lying? I knocked my best friend out unconscious and I don't know where the heck he is!" SpongeBob started crying again. Gary crawled next to him and laid down beside his feet.

SpongeBob sniffed. "Thank you, Gary." SpongeBob petted his loyal friend on the shell. Gary purred happily. He may be an idiot sometimes, but SpongeBob was still the snail's master.

Five minutes later, Sandy came back through the door, breathing heavily, worried once again.

"He's not there!"

"What do you mean?" asked SpongeBob.

"Patrick's not home. I'll call the hospital to see if a starfish recently checked in." Sandy quickly walked to the shellphone, punching in a number. As Sandy spoke to the receptionist at the hospital, SpongeBob became scared for his friend. Where was he? What happened to his body after he became unconscious? Is he awake now? SpongeBob felt sick in his stomach just thinking about what could have possibly happened to Patrick.

Sandy placed the phone down, sighing in despair.

"He's not there. No starfish has checked in since we came out."

"But where else could he be?" SpongeBob was on the verge of tears again.

"Don't cry, Sponge," Sandy reassured him. "He's probably not far. We'll go look for him once you're better, OK?"

"Alright..." replied SpongeBob. Teardrops fell down the young sponge's cheeks. Sandy sat down beside him and hugged him close. Gary simply snuggled up behind the two's legs. Overall, everyone in that pineapple was worrying about Patrick Star, who had surely disappeared.

"Patrick..." said SpongeBob, quietly. "...Where are you? Are you even still alive?"

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><p>Meanwhile, Patrick was slowly waking up in an unknown location. The area around him was pitch-black, and he couldn't see the room around him, let alone make out where the hell he was.<p>

"Hello? Where am I?" Patrick asked in the darkness. The starfish's head was aching like mad. "What happened last night..." he thought aloud. Patrick felt like falling asleep again, until a door that he didn't notice in the blackness opened. A tiny figure walked into the room.

"Oh my Neptune..." Patrick said under his breath, horrified. He knew who his captor was...

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><p><strong>Another cliffhanger! Poor Patrick... things don't look bright for him.<strong>

**This chapter looked better in my head. Seriously. :|**

**Sandy was actually the hardest for me to keep in character, but I had a bit of fun with Sponge and Sandy's actions and dialogue (if you know what I mean...). ;)**

**But please review, even though I don't think this is the best chapter...**


	5. Chapter 4: Realization

**I'm always late at updating this... **

**Boring chapter is boring. And once again, OOCness abounds, especially with Patrick. **

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 4 - Realization<strong>

At that moment, it was like time had stopped for Patrick. Of course! Only he was truly evil enough to do something like this. Why didn't he realise it was him sooner?

The small figure walked closer towards the the starfish, making Patrick feel even more frightened. As he was walking towards him, the figure finally spoke; "I'm pretty sure it wasn't _too_ hard to figure out who had locked you down here, even for an idiot like you," he said sarcastically.

Patrick could recognise that diabolical tone anywhere. "Wait..." he quietly said. "Y-Y-You're..." Patrick couldn't even finish his sentence.

As his captor carried on walking closer, the shadow over him dimmed. Patrick could then make out the shape of Sheldon Plankton, Mr. Krabs' business rival.

Plankton stopped in front of the large body of Patrick. "If this is about the Krusty Krab or the formula, then it isn't," Plankton denied before his captive could even question him.

"Then if it isn't about the KK or the secret formula..." Patrick questioned; "...Then... why am I being kept down here?"

Plankton didn't answer his question. "Karen!" the tiny lifeform yelled. "Handcuff the moron and follow me to our... _surprise room for our guest." _Karen complied without saying a word. Patrick shuddered as the computer handcuffed him from behind. He didn't like the sound of this "surprise" at all_._

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><p>Everything felt slower to Patrick as he walked down one of the few white corridors of the Chum Bucket – his walking pace, his senses, even time seemed to slow down. Every time Patrick somehow lagged behind Plankton, Karen was always pushing him forward, as she was behind him, holding his wrists. Patrick wanted this ever-evolving nightmare to be over as soon as possible.<p>

"I suppose you're wondering why I kidnapped you," said Plankton, breaking both Patrick out of his trance and the silence in the corridor.

"That's what I asked you about, yes," replied the starfish.

"Well..." Plankton briefly hesitated, then gained the courage to speak again. "I'm pretty sure you know about the weekly disappearances in Bikini Bottom?"

"Uh-huh," said Patrick.

"Would you be horrified if I said I was involved in them?" Patrick's captor asked him.

"Considering that you're currently _**kidnapping me,**_" the starfish replied, "No, I wouldn't be horrified."

Plankton decided to leave small talk for a while, leaving Patrick unsatisfied. He had questions. How _was_ Plankton connected to the disappearances? If so, would he know the missing peoples' whereabouts? Maybe if they were even alive or not? Also, why was he chosen as the next victim? If Plankton hadn't so quickly and bluntly denied about any links to the secret formula or the Krusty Krab, Patrick would have assumed that that was the case. But apparently, it seemed that it was about something entirely different this time. In spite of his stupidity, Patrick's brain worked overtime trying to find the answers to the ever-growing puzzle.

Plankton once again interrupted Patrick's trail of thoughts; "I bet you're still wondering how I'm connected to the... _mysterious disappearances _of all those people?"

"Please, just tell me now!" Patrick cried. He tried to struggle out of his handcuffs to no avail, as Karen's grip on him only tightened. Tears welled up in the chubby starfish's eyes. He was sick of the waiting, the awful, growing tension.

Plankton saw that his prisoner was becoming agitated. "I suppose I can't leave you guessing for much longer now," the tiny creature said. Patrick didn't reply. He was close to crying at this point. He was afraid, confused at the situation he somehow ended up in. 'If only SpongeBob was here...' the starfish thought to himself.

Plankton coughed. "Before I explain my reasons for kidnapping you, I have another question."

"Oh Neptune," muttered Patrick. He was sick of questions now.

Plankton hesitated, then found courage again; "...Do you actually _know_ what chum is made out of?" he questioned his captive.

Patrick had to pause. "Umm... yes! I mean, no... erm, I dunno," he replied. This time, it wasn't because of his stupidity that refused to let him know the answer. He genuinely didn't know. He thought that SpongeBob probably wouldn't know the answer either. Nor Squidward. Nor Mr. Krabs. Nor anyone in Bikini Bottom for that matter. Plankton's food was so inedible that no-one really wanted to know the ingredients. Every Bikini Bottomite always generally assumed that Plankton's chum was made out of the worst of undersea food, because it tasted so horrible. Patrick agreed with everyone else, as there was no other way Plankton's food could be that bad. But after hearing his captor's question of what chum _really and truly_ was, he started getting suspicious again.

Plankton replied; "If I told you what the ingredient was, you would think I was an inhumane monster."

"You're already inhumane by keeping me down here," Patrick stated.

"Fair enough," Plankton said. He had to admit, Patrick wasn't as stupid as he often looked.

There was another brief silence. Suddenly, as the group walked further down the corridor, a putrid smell filled Patrick's (invisible) nose.

"Dear Neptune! W-w-what is that stench!" he cried, covering up his nose with a hand. "It smells like something just died!"

"By saying that, you've actually gained a clue," Plankton replied.

"So... the ingredient of chum is something dead?"

"Yes."

Patrick recoiled at that point. What "dead thing" could Plankton be using? He was desperate to know the truth now, no matter how shocking the truth would actually be.

Finally, after what seemed like hours to Patrick, they came to the end of the corridor. A blank door with a handle sat the end, in front of group. The foul odour was at its strongest, as Patrick's eyes watered from the strength of the smell. 'The truth will be behind that door,' he declared in his mind.

Plankton jumped onto the door handle and slightly opened the door, letting darkness escape through. Patrick's heart started to beat faster, as Plankton opened the door slowly. It was like he was still torturing him. As sweat trickled down Patrick's body, the door became completely wide open, the room inside black, as if it was the gate to the Unknown. Plankton walked into the blackness and switched on a nearby light, finally displaying the room's contents.

Patrick's face turned to one of disgust and terror, his eyes widened in shock. The smell _was_ coming from something that had died.

Plankton was right - the secret of chum _**was**_ horrifying. And the evil businessman _**was**_ an inhumane monster.

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><p><strong>I think you guys can probably guess what's in that room...<strong>

**Writer's Block constantly struck me throughout writing this chapter. Luckily, I managed to get a plot point from my dad, of all people. :|**

**Anyways, feel free to review! :D**


	6. Chapter 5: Monstrosity

**I am SO sorry for being late with this chapter! (Holy crap, it's been two months since the last update?). School held me back again, what with entering my last year of compulsory education, and all. :P**

**WARNING: This chapter contains nightmare fuel. Also, Patrick turns completely OOC. X|**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 5 – Monstrosity<strong>

Patrick wanted to turn away, to scream, to at least utter something to express his disgust. But he couldn't turn away. He couldn't make a simple noise, let alone speak. His eyes were the the only things expressing horror on his face. What he was seeing right now was the equivalent to a trainwreck – a _bloody_ trainwreck.

Plankton sidled up to the starfish without him knowing. "I told you the secret of chum was horrifying," he said.

Patrick realised where the plankton was standing. He turned his head to Plankton's direction. "Yeah, well... I didn't expect the secret ingredient to be THIS!"

The stench of the room was enough to make Patrick feel sick. The smell of decay and blood was foul; no wonder the starfish could smell it from outside. Patrick wondered how on earth could Plankton simply stand there, expressionless, what with all the gory mess in the room. Patrick begged inside his mind that he was dreaming. 'I'm having a really bad nightmare,' he thought. 'I'm gonna wake up in my rock in a minute. Then afterwards, I'll talk about it with SpongeBob!' But despite his pleads of delusion, he was not dreaming. The whole ordeal was very much real.

As the horrid stench polluted Patrick's sense of smell, the starfish also became more unwell. He felt queasy, and his face turned green. Plankton glanced to Patrick's side and noticed. "We'd better leave now," he said, and the group turned back to the corridor, with Karen still holding a firm grasp on Patrick.

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><p>As he walked down that same corridor once again, Patrick's head was still swimming. He also still felt ill, although thankfully, the awful smell was fading behind him. Those images of the room would stay with him forever. He was lost for words, unable to speak. He was <em>traumatised.<em>

Plankton then realised that Patrick had not made a single audible sound since they had left the room. He tried to make chitchat; "You must think I'm a deranged maniac now," he questioned the starfish.

Patrick did not reply. His head was down, refusing to look at the face of the madman.

Plankton was getting annoyed by this point. "I'd better tell you why you're here now, I suppose," he said, in an bugged tone.

Patrick then quietly said his first words since he had saw the inside of the room. "...Why did you do this? Why... did you kill all those people?" His voice sounded shaken, like he had seen too much.

"I will tell you now." The evil plankton took in a deep breath, and told his story while still walking. "I'm a struggling man. As you know, the Chum Bucket is vastly inferior to that wretched hole known as the Krusty Krab. Overtime, I became too poor to even afford to buy the ingredients for the menu!"

Patrick listened, wanting to know the background behind the truth.

Plankton carried on his tale; "Then I became desperate. Desperate people do desperate things, you know," he stated, still thinking that Patrick was an idiot. "One night, while trying to sleep, I realised that the only cheap way of getting ingredients was to somehow get them for free. However, stealing them was not an option. Then, later that night, I woke up suddenly, and I thought of a plan. A plan that was illegal, and dangerous. But it was at first, absolutely perfect."

Patrick braced himself for the worst to come.

"At first, I snuck into local graveyards at night digging up fresh corpses of the recently-deceased. But that method was incredibly risky. I was constantly at fear of being caught by someone in the graveyards. I had to change my plan. Then it hit me; _murder._"

"But why murder?" asked the starfish. "I would have thought murder would be even more illegal? And dangerous?" He had repeated the two words which Plankton had said before.

"Ah!" Plankton replied. "The people of Bikini Bottom are _imbeciles_! And the police force, even more so! It would be easy covering my tracks." Patrick didn't like the fact that the small creature had just called the entirety of Bikini Bottom, 'imbeciles'. Even he knew what that word meant, despite his general stupidity.

"I still remember the time when I first killed another man," Plankton reminisced. "Someone by the name of 'Tom', I think? It was quite a long time ago..."

"**Wait!**" Patrick shouted. "How long have you been doing this?"

"A few years now," Plankton replied.

Patrick started to cry. How could the local law _**not**_ suspect Plankton? Even they knew he was evil. Were they really as stupid as Plankton said they were?

Tears continued to stream down Patrick's face as he walked through the corridor, knowing the fact that a serial murderer walking in front of him. He wanted to find a way to escape, to tell the world that Plankton was even more evil than anyone could ever imagine. But his hands were chained, and Karen was still watching him from behind. He could do nothing but walk down that silent corridor. Patrick forgot about time, then suddenly, another question popped into his mind.

"Why did you kidnap me?" the starfish asked, his voice still trembling.

"Because of your girth," the plankton replied bluntly. "You have plenty of meat in your whole body to keep my food supply intact for weeks."

Patrick was horrified. He was going to be the next victim in the Bikini Bottom disappearances! He had to escape. Plankton calling him fat was one thing, but he was going to end up being killed if he didn't think of something. He had to live to tell the tale, to expose Plankton as the monster he really was. He couldn't just be forced to walk around the Chum Bucket anymore. He had to get out of these handcuffs, and fast.

Patrick started to struggle, with Karen holding onto his wrists harder, until it was painful. But Patrick was determined. He started to kick and thrash around, doing anything that would somehow let him escape.

Plankton turned behind him quickly, and jumped back, lest he ended up being squashed by the huge, pink idiot. "KAREN!" he shouted at his computer wife. "Take him to a cell before the moron injures me!"

Karen complied without saying a word. Patrick screamed as he was dragged away by the computer, into a deeper, darker part of the Chum Bucket. His cries echoed down the corridor, fading away slowly.

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><p><strong>Phew! Finally finished this chapter! <strong>

**Karen hasn't spoken throughout this story yet. Maybe she feels guilt about doing this, knowing that her husband has lost it? **

**Also, I apologize if this feels rushed. I wanted to get this done and work on a couple of other projects I had started. Read and review, as always.**


	7. Chapter 6: Hopelessness

**Not much to say about this chapter, except that it features a scene change from Patrick's to SpongeBob's dilemma (then briefly back to Patrick's), I think it's below-par my usual input, and I'm late at updating again. X|**

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><p><strong><span>Chapter 6 - Hopelessness<span>  
><strong>

"So, what's the problem here?"

The policeman sat behind his desk, idly playing with a pen in his hand while performing the epitome of boredom and impatience. Standing in front of him were a sponge who looked like he had been crying, from what he could tell by his reddened eyes, and an equally-as-anxious squirrel, who was holding the sponge's hand like he was a child, not an adult. Granted, they were one of the oddest couples the policeman had ever met, but in truth, what else was new in the hick town known as Bikini Bottom? Once you work in a place where littering is considered a serious offence punishable by prison, you've pretty much seen everything, at least according to him.

Sighing quietly to himself, the policeman grabbed a nearby piece of paper and stopped playing with his pen, preparing himself to write.

"We'd like to report a missing person," said the squirrel, with a hint of anxiety in her voice.

'Oh great,' he thought. 'Another one.' He ever so slightly glanced to his side to look at the missing persons board, now cluttered with the faces of the fish that had vanished without a trace. The policeman placed the tip of his pen to the paper. "What might the missing person's name be?" he asked, with a sound of exasperation.

"His name's Patrick Star," the sponge spoke his first words to him. His voice had a high-pitched, childish tone to it – a voice that would annoy someone after a few minutes. The policeman wrote the name down, then asked; "Can you describe him for me?"

"He's a pink, chubby starfish," the sponge described his friend.

"He's not the brightest creature under the sea, but he's a good guy," the squirrel added.

The policeman only nodded as he took the notes. "When did you last see him?"

"Saturday night," the sponge answered. "We... had a fight, and then we both blacked out. I was sent to the hospital, but apparently, Pat wasn't. Now I don't know where he is." The sponge's head fell to shame. The policeman only carried on writing.

"Uh-huh. We haven't heard anything about a starfish recently," he said, faux-sadly. "We'll call you if anything comes up. What are your names and contact numbers?"

"I'm SpongeBob SquarePants," the sponge stated.

"And I'm Sandy Cheeks," said the squirrel.

Once the two had given their telephone numbers and left the department, the policeman discarded the note to one side. "No point finding this guy," he thought aloud. Truly, with the faces of the missing on the board to his side, what chance would they have of finding this 'Patrick'? As the policeman looked at the board, the faces seemed to stare coldly at him. He shivered, and left the desk unattended.

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><p>Meanwhile, outside the police department, a solemn feeling was floating around SpongeBob and Sandy. Even though the underwater sun was out and the flowers were dotting the sky, there was still an air of sadness around the two. SpongeBob slumped onto a nearby bench and sat there quietly. Sandy sat down next to him.<p>

"Well that was useless," SpongeBob sighed.

"Come on, SpongeBob," Sandy soothed. "Don't give up now! We've just reported it. All we can do now is wait for news."

"I guess..." the sponge hesitated and tried to pull a happy face. Sandy started to feel sombre watching her best friend become depressed. Sitting quietly with the summer wind gently blowing the coral trees, she tried to think of a topic that would lighten the mood. While she was thinking, the squirrel looked back to how the cop was behaving in the department. She knew it wasn't right to think badly about the authorities, but... was it just her, or did the cop just seem to not care about the fact that someone had just gone missing?

"SpongeBob..." she asked; "Did you notice anything odd about that cop back there? I mean, he didn't really seem to care about our case..."

"I didn't see anything," replied SpongeBob. Sandy realised that he was probably too depressed to even notice anything suspicious. She decided to drop the subject and stay silent. It was obvious SpongeBob didn't really want to talk right now.

SpongeBob, however, was busy brainstorming. 'That cop really didn't seem like he cared...' he thought. 'I guess with all the missing people, they've given up hope, but...' SpongeBob felt worry ache his heart. If the cops wouldn't look for Patrick, then surely he would have to go look for him himself. Sandy noticed the look on the sponge's face and hugged him out of concern. Broken out of his thoughts, SpongeBob hugged back tightly, letting silent tears fall down his cheeks. As SpongeBob cried in Sandy's arms, the day continued innocently, not knowing that a crime was taking place in a small, unassuming town. 'I'll find you, Patrick,' SpongeBob thought. 'I swear on my life I will.'

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><p>Stuck in a damp prison cell with no light around him, Patrick was shaking with fear. He didn't know what part of the Chum Bucket he was in. Karen had dragged him into a blackened corridor and after that, he couldn't see a thing. He had tried to make out what the room was like – from what he could tell, the walls were damp and the cell smelt funny, like there was something stale in the air. The starfish was also sitting down on the hard floor, since he couldn't properly find any kind of bed, because of the darkness.<p>

Patrick wished there was a window in the cell. At least he'd know whether it was daylight or not. Or maybe instead, some kind of lightbulb hanging on a chain in the ceiling, or a lamp. It was scary being locked up in a cell with no idea where you were, and stuck in the dark...

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><p><strong>Is it me, or is this story becoming more disturbing as it goes on? D: Oh, my imagination...<strong>

**And yeah, I made the Bikini Bottom Police incompetent. Considering what I've seen of their actions in newer episodes, well...**


	8. Chapter 7: Escape

**...In which I have now given up in always saying that I am late when it comes to updating chapters. (Sorry, exams have been holding me back.) Also, in which Patrick is further OOC.**

**Enjoy, anyways.**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 7 - Escape<strong>

As Patrick sat in the foetal position on the floor, he heard footsteps outside the cell, on the corridor. Was it Plankton? Or maybe someone else? The starfish pondered the unlikely scenario of help walking down that corridor and coming to his aid, but he disregarded it quickly.

Patrick shivered, expecting the worst to appear behind the door. He scrunched his eyes together, covered his face with his hands and wished he was at home, sleeping under his rock, without a care in the world. He heard the unlocking of a keyhole and his eyes opened with fear. The pink starfish was now looking between his fingers, knowing that it would be impossible for him to look away from the visitor, whether good or bad.

The door creaked open slowly, adding more turmoil to Patrick's gut fear. As it opened, light slowly rushed into the cell, partially blinding the starfish from being locked in darkness for so long. Patrick could make out a looming black shadow in front of him, with an obscured figure forming in the doorway. However, it wasn't the tiny size of Plankton who formed the menacing shadow. It was a much taller figure, with the oddest proportions Patrick had ever seen on a fish.

But it wasn't a fish. It was Karen, the computer wife.

Patrick was initially surprised when he saw Karen in the doorway instead of Plankton. But now, he had questions running through his mind. Why was Karen here? Had Plankton finally decided to kill him, so he sent Karen down to bring him? The starfish then started to panic. He was about to die. He knew it.

Karen rolled over to him without a word. Patrick, still very much frightened, crawled over to a corner, then started to plead for mercy.

"Please!" he shouted, tears forming in his eyes. "Don't let Plankton kill me! I never thought he would do something like this! Please, don't let him!" The starfish sobbed uncontrollably while the computer looked on. After a couple of minutes of watching Patrick wail, Karen finally spoke for the first time since Patrick had been taken prisoner:

"I'm not taking you to Plankton to be killed."

Patrick stopped crying and looked up at the computer wife. "...What?" he could merely reply.

"You heard me right. I'm not going to let Plankton kill you. I'm going to set you free."

Patrick thought he had misheard that last sentence. Not letting Plankton kill him? Setting him free? It was almost too much for him to take in. His heart had soared over the moon, but he was careful to still be suspicious of Karen's motives.

"Come on," the computer told the starfish. "Can you get up? I'll take you to a hidden exit below the Chum Bucket. Then I can let you go." Patrick stood up, almost falling over from weakness, and walked with Karen out of the cell.

* * *

><p>The underground corridors of the Chum Bucket looked even more grimy and dismal than the upper corridors – most likely because they had been built many years ago, and Plankton probably forgot to clean them - that is, if he could have afforded to. Patrick had noted that Karen wasn't her usual bossy, sarcastic self. This Karen was more saddened, more <em>guilty<em>. Patrick wanted to know why.

"Why are you helping me?" he asked the computer.

"Because I hate what my husband is doing," she replied instantly. "I never wanted to become involved in these murders. I tried to discourage him as hard as I could, but he was acting his usual arrogant self. Every time he killed someone, I felt so awful for not doing anything to try and stop him. So I decided to help, by starting with you."

Patrick found it hard to believe that those words had just come from Karen, but the murders had gone on for years – no wonder the computer wife wanted to stop her crazy husband so badly. After that tiny conversation, the starfish simply stared ahead down the corridor, wondering how much further he would have to walk to freedom.

After what had seemed like an eternity to Patrick, Karen at last had led him to another door – a gritty, metal door that looked like it hadn't been opened in years. Patrick felt his entire body fill up with hope, and he was all ready to burst through the door and run away from the Chum Bucket; but for some reason, he remained composed. Maybe gut fear still lingered in his body.

Karen brought out a key she had been holding on to the whole time and unlocked the door. It made a horrible creaking sound as it opened (probably from not being used in so long) which made Patrick cover his ears. As Karen pulled the ancient door, natural sunlight crept into the corridor. Patrick was fit to burst with emotion at this point. He was so close now... so close to freedom...

When Karen finally opened the door all the way, Patrick's eyes widened. Outside, the sun was low in the sky, but it could have been either sunrise or sunset for all Patrick cared. All there was in the landscape were rocky hills and coral growing in places, but all Patrick saw was escape. Escape from this nightmare. Escape from certain death.

"If you keep going straight down there," Karen then pointed at the horizon, "You'll eventually reach a road. Then, you can hopefully find a way back to Bikini Bottom."

Patrick had just barely listened to the instructions. "Oh? Oh yeah, go straight down until I find a road. Got it."

"No need to worry about me," Karen reassured him. "Hopefully, I can sort myself out. Be careful out there, and don't turn back."

Patrick nodded. Then, he started running away from the exit, refusing to look back. Karen felt pleased with herself as she turned back and closed the exit door. Now she had to come up with an explanation to Plankton as to how Patrick escaped.

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><p>Physical exercise had never been Patrick's strong point throughout his life, but at this moment, it was crucial. The overweight starfish was out of breath, but he knew he had to keep going – it was life or death. Then he remembered Karen's words to not look back, and her instructions to him; keep going straight on until you find a road. But only Neptune knew how far that road actually was.<p>

It was getting darker now. Patrick started to worry about having to sleep outside, but he decided to keep running. The adrenaline was intensifying. He had suffered a traumatic experience, and he told himself he had to keep running for his life, the truth, and his friends.

_SpongeBob, Sandy, Squidward, Mr. Krabs, his family, everyone else he knew..._

Patrick then felt a burst of determination, and took on the stance of an athlete. By this point, he was sprinting down the middle of nowhere, with still no sight of the road and the sky becoming even more darker. He could see the first stars shining, but the starfish didn't care now. He was going to return home – something as simple as time of day wouldn't stop him.

It could have been only either a few minutes or a couple of hours, but Patrick finally spotted a black strip far off – the road! Patrick's face lightened up and he slowed down a bit; he didn't have to strain himself so hard anymore.

As soon as Patrick approached the road, he stopped running. It was night now. Plus, he didn't know which direction would take him back to Bikini Bottom; was it left or right? Patrick sighed. He would just have to sleep on the side of the road like a hobo tonight...

...Except a boatmobile zoomed past him, coming from the left. As Patrick felt a rush of wind blow against him, he had an idea; he looked to his left side and waited patiently. He didn't really know how long he stood there, but when he saw a pair of headlights coming towards him, he stuck his arm out and raised his thumb, like the way he saw travellers do it in old movies. Now it all depended on luck. Oh please stop, mystery driver. I also hope you're going to Bikini Bottom...

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><p><strong>In which Patrick also becomes a determinator. :D<strong>

**Review, as always. **


	9. Chapter 8: Return

**Warning: This is a dull chapter. I only wrote this to set up the next major plot point in the story. :|**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 8 – Return<strong>

The driver of the boatmobile could see a fat hitchhiker far away on the roadside, thanks to his headlights. As the driver carried further on, he also noted that the hitchhiker was a pink starfish who was giving the 'thumbs up' signal.

"Oh no," the driver panicked, while talking to himself. "The guy probably wants a ride." He was facing a dilemma; should he carry on driving and ignore him, or should he pick him up? What if he was an axe-murderer, like in those rubbish horror movies? Or at least someone who was just crazy?

The driver was still hesitant when he could see what the hitchhiker was wearing; only green pants with a flower pattern. The starfish didn't actually look like he had been travelling for weeks. In fact, the dirt on his body and clothes looked recent. But the fish was still uneasy.

The driver was all ready to zoom past him with no return, until he looked to his side window. As he glanced at the hitchhiker's face, he saw a haunting expression; the starfish's eyes were paralyzed, and his face looked frozen. His entire body was also shaking with fear. Something had obviously happened to that starfish. If the driver didn't pull over and help him, he would have a guilty conscience for the rest of his life. He pulled over and rolled his window down.

"You alright, buddy?" the driver asked the starfish with genuine concern. The hitchhiker took a short while to respond.

"I just need a ride to Bikini Bottom. Are you going there?"

"Why, yes I am," the driver replied. The hitchhiker didn't seem all that threatening, but he wasn't about to let his guard down yet. "Hop in at the side." The starfish walked to the side of the boatmobile and jumped into the front passenger seat.

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><p>Patrick thanked his lucky stars that he had managed to get a ride from a complete stranger. He was by now so tired that he could barely move in his seat. He also had trouble answering the questions that the driver asked him.<p>

"Why exactly were you out there alone?" the stranger asked.

"If I told you the reason, you probably wouldn't believe me," Patrick replied. That sentence reminded the starfish of what he had just been through – in all honesty, he wanted to forget Plankton and his insanity for the rest of his life, but he couldn't. He had to go home to warn his friends.

"Why? Did something happen?" asked the stranger. Patrick took longer to reply this time.

"No..." he faltered. What was he going to say to this man he had just met? "I... saw something terrifying."

"What? Nematodes?" the driver joked, then laughed to himself. Patrick wasn't in the mood for laughing. He wasn't even sure if he could smile ever again, or at least for a long time. The driver noticed that the starfish wasn't laughing with him, so he stopped.

As the Bikini Bottom skyline rose higher over the horizon, Patrick became more excited inside – his face was still solemn. He was inching even closer to home; the place he thought he wouldn't see again.

"Where do you want me to drop you off?" asked the driver. Patrick had to remember which street he lived in; he certainly wasn't dumb enough to forget his place of residence, but the trauma of what had previously happened to him made him forget a lot of information.

"Do you know where Conch Street is?" the starfish asked him back.

"Only just vaguely," the fish replied. "Isn't that the street with the pineapple-house? Pretty weird place to live in if you ask me."

Patrick cheered up a little after the mentioning of his best friend's house. "Yeah, that's the one," he confirmed to the stranger.

"OK, I'll take you there now." The driver took a right turn into the suburbs, which was a dark place only illuminated by streetlamps. Of course, the driver hadn't planned on going to Conch Street, let alone at this time of night; but it was the thought of helping someone in trouble that mattered.

* * *

><p>When the driver came near the pineapple house, Patrick told him to stop. The fish pulled over to the side and Patrick climbed out of the boatmobile. But before the driver pulled away, the starfish went to the driver's window. He rolled it down.<p>

"Thanks for taking me home," Patrick said gratefully.

"You live 'round here?" the driver said, slightly surprised in tone.

Patrick nodded. "Yes. And my best friend lives in that pineapple," he stated while pointing to the fruit. The fish was puzzled, but he didn't want to offend the starfish now.

"Well," the man said, "I'll be off now. By the way, you never told me your name."

"Oh! My name's Patrick."

"Well, mine's Dennis," the driver told him. "I'll see you around, I suppose. Goodbye."

"Bye!" Patrick waved as Dennis drove off into the night. He wasn't actually sure if they would ever meet again; but the starfish would be glad if they did.

Patrick stared at the three houses on the street – his rock, Squidward's Easter Island Head, and SpongeBob's pineapple. Patrick just wanted to go home to his rock and sleep till way past noon, but he knew he had to let SpongeBob know he was safe; and warn him about Plankton's murder spree. Slowly, he walked up to the door of the pineapple, unsure if SpongeBob was in bed or not. It probably wouldn't matter anyway, since he was his best friend.

Patrick raised his arm and knocked on the door. Now he just needed to wait for SpongeBob to open it...

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><p><strong>This is definitely not the best chapter in this fic. Really, it's a filler chapter, and I do apologize if it sucked. X(<strong>

**Review if you want to.**


	10. Chapter 9: Reunion

**From my current planning, this story shouldn't really go above 20 chapters, if I include an epilogue. :P**

**Enjoy, as usual.**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 9 – Reunion<strong>

As the sound of knocking travelled throughout the pineapple house, SpongeBob wearily opened his eyes. Was someone at the door? He checked his alarm clock – it was nearly midnight. Who on earth would visit him at this time of night?

SpongeBob got out of bed and threw on a dressing gown around him. As he scuttled out of his room, Gary heard his movements and woke up. The snail was puzzled as to why his owner had suddenly woken up and gone downstairs. (He didn't hear the knocking of the door.) But he decided to go back to sleep again.

SpongeBob climbed down the stairs and rushed to the door. As he was about to unlock the door, he froze. He remembered that it was strange that someone would want to see him late at night; so _who exactly_ was at the door? The sponge didn't want to think about the worst results of his predicament, but he couldn't.

The mysterious stranger knocked the door again. SpongeBob then started to panic and sweat uncontrollably. If he didn't open the door now, then _maybe_, the stranger would crash the door open himself so he could get him? The sponge was extremely scared, but he knew he couldn't keep his visitor waiting any longer.

So he unlocked the door.

SpongeBob only slightly opened it at first and peeked through the hole; he wasn't taking any risks.

A familiar pink face peeked through back, and shouted, "Hi SpongeBob!" at him.

SpongeBob threw the door open immediately – it was Patrick! Thank Neptune he was OK! The sponge ran outside his house and hugged the starfish tightly, not wanting to let go of his best friend. Patrick hugged SpongeBob back, and he was right to do so – he thought he would never see SpongeBob again. Then, they both pulled out of the hug and started to sing and dance with each other in front of the pineapple – both were glad to know that the other was fine.

Sadly, the moment was interrupted by Squidward, who could hear the squeals of joy outside. He stormed out of bed and forced his bedroom window open.

"WILL YOU TWO **IDIOTS** SHUT UP?" the cephalopod yelled down to them. "Some people are _**TRYING**_to sleep, including me!" And after that, he slammed his window shut. In all Squidward's honesty, he hadn't really noticed that Patrick had gone missing for a few days.

The two stared at Squidward's window for a few seconds, then celebrated again, only much quieter.

"Patrick!" said SpongeBob happily. "Where were you? I'm so sorry about that stupid fight! Will you forgive me?"

The sponge looked directly into Patrick's eyes at that moment. His eyes looked glassy, as if he was about to cry. SpongeBob would have deduced that it was because of the moment, but he could see that strange emotions were also whirling in the eyes of the starfish – fear was one of them, along with trauma and adrenaline. Did something happen to Patrick? Something terrifying?

"Is there something wrong?" SpongeBob finally asked him out of concern.

Patrick became solemn. Was now really the best time to tell his friend what'd happened to him?

SpongeBob was no mind reader, but he could tell that Patrick had witnessed something that he shouldn't have seen. If so, wouldn't Patrick be telling him about his ordeal now? Was it too horrifying for him to speak about?

"Do you want to come in, Pat?" asked the sponge. The starfish nodded, and went into the pineapple, saying nothing else. SpongeBob had to know where Patrick had gone to, and what awful thing had happened to him.

* * *

><p>"I-I-It was gruesome..." Patrick stuttered as tears fell down his face. He was sitting on SpongeBob's couch, holding a cup of tea as he wore a blanket around him, courtesy of his friend. SpongeBob could only listen as he heard Patrick's story – about Plankton, and the mystery of the missing Bikini Bottomites.<p>

"He's killing people randomly at night," the starfish explained. "He's been doing it for years now – I mean, he used to dig up corpses from graveyards, but that was too risky, so he went onto murder..." Patrick faltered and sobbed quietly, not taking any notice of SpongeBob. The sponge only sat there and comforted Patrick, his mouth open wide at what he was hearing. Plankton the Murderer? Sure, the man had done some horrible things, but _murder_? SpongeBob had never even thought that Plankton would go that far...

"He's got a room filled with dead bodies," Patrick started to speak again. "It was awful, buddy. Like something out of a horror movie, only worse." Patrick shivered, not wanting to remember that room. SpongeBob could almost feel the starfish's emotions – he nearly shivered too.

"...And he's using those bodies to make his chum," explained Patrick further.

SpongeBob shot up immediately. "No..." He shook his head and stood up from the couch. He started to walk slowly around the living room, unaware of what he was doing. It was unbelievable; Plankton couldn't be doing this. Surely Patrick was lying to him? But he was visibly shaken; he couldn't be lying. Patrick would never be able to make up such a horrific lie.

Meanwhile, Patrick watched as his friend paced around the living room randomly. He could understand how SpongeBob was feeling; it wasn't something that could be taken in, or believed easily.

SpongeBob finally turned to face Patrick, tears forming in his eyes. "I'd better call Sandy," he announced, his voice wobbling. "I'll tell her that you're home, and to come to my house tomorrow morning." The sponge sniffed after that sentence.

Patrick nodded. Someone else had to know besides him and SpongeBob – this secret was too terrifying to keep to themselves.

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><p>Sandy went silent as Patrick told his story to her the next day.<p>

All three of them were sitting around SpongeBob's kitchen table – the sponge himself kept his head low as Patrick told his ordeal to Sandy. The starfish was still visibly upset, but he did his best to compose himself in front of her. The squirrel, however, remained stoic, as if she wasn't that much affected by the resolution of Plankton being a killer. SpongeBob wondered if that was just her way of taking it all in, like with him walking around aimlessly, then crying.

Sandy remained quiet after Patrick had finished his story. Then, there was an awful silence. SpongeBob gulped, while Patrick shifted awkwardly and Sandy played with her thumbs. As time passed on aimlessly, sunlight burst through the kitchen window innocently, as if it didn't know – or didn't care - that there were three creatures in there that knew that one of their hated enemies was a serial killer. While the presence of daylight seemed to make the kitchen appear pleasant and cheerful, the mood between the trio was sombre and depressing.

After a long while, Sandy finally spoke; "So Plankton is murdering innocent fish, then grinding them up for his chum." She spoke in a serious near-monotone. SpongeBob noted that it wasn't like Sandy to be like this, but he could understand, considering the situation they were all in. Patrick glanced at the squirrel's eyes, and noticed that they were becoming dilated.

"Are you OK, Sandy?" asked Patrick worriedly.

"I-I'm fine," Sandy replied, her voice breaking. She started to shiver a little, which also made SpongeBob notice.

"Are you sure?" the sponge asked, truly concerned about her.

"No, I'm fine!" she replied, her voice getting louder. She stood up from her chair and and started to back away for no reason. SpongeBob deduced that this was either how Sandy was reacting to the whole thing, or she was probably hiding something from them. The sponge didn't really like to think that Sandy was keeping things away from the two at this time, but she was behaving in that manner.

"You're not hiding anything from us, are you?" SpongeBob asked directly, standing up from his chair and walking around the table.

"N-NO!" Sandy shouted at them, backing away further.

"Sandy..."

The squirrel was close to tears by this point. She would never keep dark secrets away from SpongeBob and Patrick – especially SpongeBob. But she knew she couldn't tell themabout...

Sandy burst into tears and fell to the kitchen floor. No, she couldn't tell them _that_. It would look like she was a part of Plankton's plan. Patrick stayed at his seat, while SpongeBob came near, crouched down, then hugged her. He regretted ganging up on Sandy with an accusing question like that. Now wasn't the time for that.

Patrick left his chair and joined the two in the hug. As the three of them sat down on the floor, still comforting each other, the starfish suddenly thought about Karen – he hoped she was alright. Patrick didn't really want to think about what Plankton would do to her if he found out she helped him escape, but the thought was too dreadful to forget. Patrick hoped that Karen knew what she was doing before helping him.

Time passed on without care, and sunlight continued to stream through the windows. It was a beautiful day, but none of the friends in the kitchen were happy. Sandy continued to cry, albeit much quieter, and Patrick and SpongeBob carried on hugging her, and each other. They didn't know what to do next – would the police believe them if they reported Plankton? Should they tell Squidward or Mr. Krabs or someone else? The trio were all completely lost.

A madman was afoot; and they had no idea on how to stop him.

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><p><strong>I must really like Character Derailment in this fic. Sandy has it the worst. X|<strong>

**Read, review etc.**


	11. Chapter 10: Disbelief

**Would have posted this chapter earlier if it wasn't for the fact that I had exams. -_-**

**Just a quick heads up now, but things are going to get darker in this chapter. (As if this story wasn't dark enough already...)**

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><p><strong><span>Chapter 10 - Disbelief<span>  
><strong>

Plankton was tense. That fat idiot Patrick had managed to escape! He was sure that he had locked the dunce up as secure as he could; so how on earth did he manage to get out?

Karen was watching him from the other side of the room. She wasn't too sure what to say to him - of course, when you're hiding the fact that _**you**_ helped a prisoner escape his untimely death, it was pretty much expected that you had little to say.

Plankton rubbed his temples and walked back and forth aimlessly, thinking. Karen was still worried. Would he find out _she_ let the starfish go?

"I can't believe this!" Plankton yelled to no-one in particular. Karen remained stoic. "I locked the moron up as tight as I could! How in Neptune did he escape?"

Karen still remained silent. Plankton turned around towards her, eyeing her. The computer wife became frightened.

"You look pensive," the amoeba stated.

"I-It's only because of the situation, darling," Karen lied. "What if Patrick tells on us to the cops, or something?"

Plankton's heart missed a beat at that sentence. The law. The thought of being discovered by it scared him, especially since he still knew deep in his mind that what he was doing was incredibly wrong. He couldn't be caught now; certainly not after so many years of doing this.

Plankton's mind buzzed as he tried to think of possible reasons as to how Patrick had escaped. He could only come up with two – either the starfish had truly managed to crack the locks by himself and escape, which was highly unlikely; or someone else had managed to help him. The tiny lifeform pondered the second hypothesis. There were only two people living in the Chum Bucket - him and Karen. And no-one else knew about the underground system of the restaurant, but him and the computer. Plankton didn't want to start any accusations, but he wanted some answers right now.

Plankton looked at Karen again. "You don't know anything about how Patrick escaped, do you?"

Karen stayed quiet. Plankton's anger started to bubble.

"You know something, don't you?"

"I don't know anything," Karen replied quickly.

"You let Patrick escape, didn't you?" Plankton's voice was rising. All he wanted was the truth now - he didn't care about anything else, besides where Patrick could be now.

"That's not true!" Karen shouted back.

"LIES! You're lying!" Plankton screamed at her. Karen didn't know what to do - she was in an awful situation; her husband was a maniac, and she had betrayed him, albeit for a good cause. She didn't know what to say to him. Karen pondered her options - she could either try to run away now, with Plankton's malevolence behind her; carry on protesting her innocence; or come out with the cold, hard truth. Karen quickly chose one of the three options.

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><p>"So; you're saying that Patrick had been kidnapped by Plankton for the last couple of days, then his wife managed to help him escape, and he had to trek through Nowhere so he could get home?" Squidward summed up dryly. "And Plankton is a serial killer, using dead fish for his chum?"<p>

SpongeBob, Sandy and Patrick were in the Krusty Krab telling Squidward what had happened so far. All three of them could tell by Squidward's tone that he didn't believe a word they had said. Of course, this _was_ Squidward they were dealing with.

The cephalopod burst into laughter at the story. SpongeBob became shocked, Patrick looked like he was going to cry, and Sandy was not amused. SpongeBob looked at the squirrel, and he thought she looked ready to strangle Squidward. But it was understandable – this was no time for joking.

Squidward stopped laughing when he saw Sandy's death glare. He quickly composed himself and said, "Wait, you're not kidding?"

"This is a _**very**_ serious problem, Mr. Tentacles!" Sandy stated. "Patrick could have been _killed!_"

"WHAT'S ALL THE RUCKUS OUT THERE?" Mr. Krabs shouted from the door to his office. He could hear muffled conversation between his cashier and someone else outside.

"Patrick almost died, apparently," Squidward told his boss.

Krabs merely laughed, until he saw the horrified expression of his best fry cook. Then he quickly scanned the chubby starfish who looked even closer to crying, and the squirrel who was glaring daggers at him. If Krabs didn't know any better, it was obvious that they weren't joking.

"Mr. Krabs..." SpongeBob started, "P-Plankton kidnapped Patrick. He was going to kill him. Chum is actually made out of fish..." the sponge faltered and teetered on the verge of tears too. Krabs stepped closer to SpongeBob to comfort him, but Sandy took hold of his hand first. The crab was obviously startled by the sudden accusation of his business rival being a murderer – true, Plankton had done some horrible things in his lifetime, but surely murder was a step too far, even for the amoeba?

Squidward still wasn't buying anything the trio said. "Mr. Krabs," he asked his boss, "Don't tell me you believe what they're saying?"

Krabs had to think of an appropriate reply; "Something as dire as what the boy is saying is always difficult to believe at first," the wise crab stated.

"So do you believe us?" the sponge asked with hope.

Krabs could only sigh. He was still wondering if Plankton could even kill another sea creature. Surely if he could take over the world, he could commit serial murder?

"...You don't believe us, do you?" SpongeBob said. Silent tears fell down his cheeks. Sandy wanted to say something horrible to the cephalopod and the crab, but she decided to keep her mouth shut. "Come on, you guys," she said to the two, and all three of them slunk out of the restaurant door.

After watching them leave, Squidward turned to face his boss. Krabs just looked at him with worry in his eyes.

"Mr. Krabs, you don't honestly believe them?" he repeated his previous question to him.

"The boy got really upset," Krabs stated. "Maybe they really are telling the truth." He decided to go back to his office and ponder it all. Once he left Squidward alone, the cephalopod could only facepalm at what had just happened.

Squidward's week had gone from mediocre to bad. But unbeknownst to him, things would go from bad to worse.

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><p>"Why... yes," Karen announced to Plankton. "Yes, I <em>did<em> help Patrick escape."

Plankton's pupil shrunk with rage, his mouth and fist both clenched. How _dare_ she, just how _**dare**_ she betray him like that? Karen was his wife; she was supposed to stand by him, for better or worse. How could Karen go behind him like that?

"Karen, how **COULD** you?" the amoeba shouted. The computer remained defiant.

"Because you've gone insane," Karen replied bluntly, her voice rising too. "I never wanted to be a part of this, but you forced me to help you. I should have stopped you when I had the chance; but I never did."

Plankton remained silent, his anger about to burst.

"Helping Patrick was my way of stopping you," Karen continued. "I just wanted to end his madness so much that I didn't care what you'd do. I didn't want Patrick to die horribly, so I let him escape. You certainly don't know that you're falling to madness, but I do. I've been seeing you fall for years. And now I've had enough."

Suddenly, something in Plankton's mind snapped. He didn't know why, but he started to smile and giggle randomly, and inappropriately. His eye became more dilated and his pupil shrunk further. He was losing comprehension of what he was doing, but Plankton didn't know, or didn't care. But there was something in the back of his mind telling him that Karen had to go.

The computer was watching Plankton's expression. _What's wrong with him? _she thought anxiously. _Why is he giggling like that, in that creepy way?_

Plankton's giggle turned into a laugh as he stumbled towards a drawer. Then, he opened the top drawer, and pulled out something shiny. Karen was alarmed, and with good reason.

_It was a gun._

Karen tried to run, but a few gunshots aimed at the wheels below her halted her abruptly. A few more shots took out part of the metal pole supporting her monitor. Karen collapsed onto the floor, still attempting to get away from Plankton. The amoeba stood on a nearby table, looking down at the computer that had backstabbed him.

Karen was weak, and she knew she was about to die. Nevertheless, she uttered one last sentence at the madman that was her husband; "I don't regret anything I did. I hope you burn in Hell."

Plankton didn't reply. Karen didn't deserve to live now. He fired some bullets at Karen's monitor, effectively killing the computer for good. Her body remained on the floor in a broken heap, while Plankton just stared at her. Suddenly, his sanity returned, just as easily as it went away. The amoeba saw the remains of his wife, and tears filled his eye.

"Karen..?" he uttered quietly. "...Karen?"

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><p><strong>Decided to end it there, because when I carried on writing the scene, it was becoming narmy, in my opinion. XP<strong>

**Also, first character death. Everything's going downhill now.**

**Read, review, blah blah blah...**


	12. Chapter 11: Discord

**Would have written this chapter much earlier if it wasn't for a "family emergency"...**

**This chapter probably won't be as good as usual, because of that. :/**

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><p><strong><span>Chapter 11 - Discord<span>  
><strong>

SpongeBob, Patrick and Sandy were trudging down the silent street solemnly. Nobody they knew had believed them about Plankton; but deep in their hearts, they knew no-one would. The whole story was ridiculous anyway - so why would anyone else believe them?

SpongeBob finally broke the cold silence between everyone; "What do we do now?" he asked the two.

Sandy and Patrick continued to remain mute for a short while. Then Sandy replied, "I think this is one of those situations when we'll have to take matters into our own hands."

SpongeBob became curious as he searched for the right word for what Sandy was suggesting. Then he found it; "Vigilantism?" he asked the squirrel.

"Yeah, that," she answered. "I mean, if the cops and our friends won't believe us, then what can we do? I say we confront Plankton ourselves."

SpongeBob and Patrick were mildly shocked by Sandy's suggestion – but it was true; what else could they do now? It seemed that directly confronting the madman was the only option they had left. But Patrick had a reservation.

"Guys..." the starfish said tensely. "...I'm scared. I don't wanna see Plankton, or go near the Chum Bucket ever again." He shivered, then started to whimper.

SpongeBob comforted his friend. "Don't cry again, buddy. I know, I'd never want to go near the Chum Bucket or Plankton again if he did all of that to me. But we've gotta be strong right now. OK?"

Sandy stared at the two. She couldn't help but feel ticked off with them – maybe it was just the moment they were in (especially after what had happened in the Krusty Krab previously), but the squirrel couldn't help but _feel_ cross at them.

SpongeBob noticed the dark look on Sandy's face. Rarely did the sponge see his other best friend like that. He directly asked, "What's wrong, Sandy?"

Sandy sighed angrily, and walked quickly ahead of SpongeBob and Patrick. The two tried to keep up with her.

"Sandy, what's wrong?" SpongeBob asked her again. "Is it because Patrick's upset?"

Sandy stopped in the middle of the street, her head hanging low. SpongeBob and Patrick watched her carefully. Finally, the squirrel turned around and replied as coolly as she could; "Yes... it's partly that. We shouldn't be crying and weeping at a time like this. We have potential lives at stake here." She sighed after that sentence. She wanted to yell at the two, to rage about the obstacles they faced, but she couldn't. Certainly not in front of her friend.

SpongeBob seemed to know how Sandy felt. He then came up with an idea. "Patrick, you don't have to come with us, if you feel scared. You can stay at home. Me and Sandy will go and confront Plankton alone."

SpongeBob wasn't too sure why he said that. Truly, he was just as frightened of Plankton as Patrick – but this was about his best friend, who almost died at the amoeba's hands. It was almost like his duty to obtain justice for Patrick. He had to be brave – something he often struggled with, but tended to persevere despite this.

Patrick nodded at SpongeBob's suggestion. Sandy then smiled, and said; "Right, I've thought up the first step. Me and SpongeBob will storm the Chum Bucket tomorrow night. That way, we'll have more time to plan tonight and Plankton will hopefully be caught off-guard. Sound good?"

"Yes!" SpongeBob nodded happily. He was still scared at what he was getting himself into, but he didn't really want to worry until tomorrow night.

Patrick smiled weakly too, also anxious for SpongeBob and Sandy. He was feeling guilty about not going with them to confront Plankton, but he was too traumatised to go near the place where he was almost killed, and the man who almost murdered him.

As the trio walked down the street with more springs in their steps, Patrick then thought about Karen again – was she fine? Did she manage to avoid Plankton's wrath?

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Plankton was crying in his office over the death of his beloved Karen – or rather, his murder of Karen. How in Neptune's name could he have done that to her, and why? Scratch that last sentence, he knew why – she betrayed him. She let that fat pink moron escape. He couldn't easily forgive her for that. But he was sure that he had never meant to kill her.<p>

The amoeba wasn't actually too sure what had happened when he had murdered her – in fact, his memory was disjointed. He could remember a crazed giggle and the pulling out of a gun, but that was it. Even if he had really wanted to kill the computer back then, Plankton was certainly regretting it now.

Karen's body was still lying in a broken heap in the middle of the restaurant floor. Plankton wasn't sure when he was going to clean up the body, but it wasn't his main concern right now. He was still grieving over the loss of his wife by his own hands.

"Karen..." he sobbed quietly. "What have I done to you?" Plankton thought that the phrase he had just uttered was rather cliché, but he didn't care. It was true.

Plankton continued to bawl at his desk for quite some time; until something nudged in the back of his mind. He stopped crying and became silent. This nudging... it felt strange. Incredibly strange. Plankton had never felt something like that before. He started to rub the behind of his head, until he heard something:

"I don't see why you're crying over her."

Plankton looked around the room. He was the only person in the office; and no-one visited the Chum Bucket often, either. He stared down at the desk, his eye filling with tears again – until he heard a voice.

"You're gonna cry over her _again? _And I thought that sponge-freak was a baby..."

"Who's there?" Plankton questioned to the open.

"Your subconscious," the voice replied.

"My... subconscious?"

"What are you, stupid? Now listen, stop bawling over that hunk of machinery on the floor. She betrayed you – you can't ever forgive her for that."

"But she was my wife – the only thing I truly loved in this world," Plankton whimpered. "I never meant to kill her, even if she did betray me. I never wanted to hurt her."

"Well, too late now," the voice replied unsympathetically. "Karen's dead. You can't change that. But there's the matter of the starfish I'm concerned about."

Plankton then remembered, horrified – Patrick could tip him off. He'd most likely tell that porous freak of a friend. Then whose to say the yellow creep wouldn't tell Mr. Krabs, or even the police?

"He's probably run off to the sponge's house," the voice echoed Plankton's thoughts. "We're doomed if they decide to report us to the cops. That's why we still have to carry on with the game."

'The game'. Was that what his subconscious called 'murder'? Did murder simply become a game to Plankton? He didn't know. After what he had done to Karen, he didn't even want to know. Nevertheless, the voice continued.

"SpongeBob and Patrick can't rat us out – so that's why I suggest you kill them. Both. You kill the only two people who know what we're doing. Then our secret is safe."

"NO!" Plankton shouted. "I can't do this anymore! Sure, simpletons may have been easy targets, but now I've lost my Karen – by my own hands! I'd rather turn myself in now than kill again."

The voice remained silent. Then it said; "Fine. Have it your way. But too bad, because I live in your mind. I've been biding my time, waiting for you to do something truly awful, and now was the right time. But it seems you don't want my help. You can pretend I don't exist all you want, but I'll still be there, mocking you."

"Leave me alone!" Plankton begged his subconscious. What was happening to him? Was Karen right when she said he was going insane?

"Tough luck, Sheldon," the voice referred to Plankton by his first name. "I'm not gonna go away so easily. You can either accept my suggestion on killing those two idiots, or you can ignore me. But eventually, I'll take over."

'Take over'? What was that voice talking about? Plankton didn't want to know – he was truly scared at that moment.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" he screamed again. But the voice didn't leave. This was what it wanted from Plankton – suffering.

Plankton wailed and roared around the office, trying to persuade the voice to leave; but it didn't. Then, he started to lose comprehension of himself again. Exactly what the voice wanted. Plankton's mind became fuzzy, losing awareness. The world became distorted as Plankton fell to the floor, still screaming at his subconscious to leave, and cradling his head. But still, the voice refused to leave as he fainted on the cold floor of the Chum Bucket office...

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><p><strong>Plankton's going crazy... O_o;;<strong>

**Read and review – the usual. :P**


	13. Chapter 12: Confrontation

**Oh my God this chapter reads horribly... But I'll let you be the judge of that. :P**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 12 – Confrontation<strong>

It was the next night in Bikini Bottom. While the centre of town was still bright and active from nightly businesses, the suburbs were dark and asleep, only illuminated by poorly-placed streetlights which emitted a strange yellow glow. Compared to the middle of town, which felt warm and friendly, the suburbs looked eerie and frightening.

Two figures were trudging down one of the lonely suburban roads, casting long shadows as they passed under the streetlights – SpongeBob and Sandy. The former had an anxious look on his face, and constantly stayed behind the latter, who had an expression of iron. Both were heading towards the Chum Bucket, to confront Plankton and his sins.

The sponge and the squirrel had been planning their mission through some of last night and most of today. Like Sandy had suggested, they were going to confront Plankton in the dead of night, when he would be most likely unprepared; and by the request of SpongeBob, Patrick was staying at home. Sandy was also carrying a flashlight, which was rather convenient of her – the poor placements of the streetlights often made it difficult to properly see where the two were going. Not to mention that it made them feel much safer going down the sinister road.

SpongeBob had been staring at the sky at random intervals during their journey. It was a clear night, and the moon and stars were shining brightly in the underwater sky. The sponge thought that he would have liked to have looked at the sky all night if he didn't have to do his dangerous mission right now – preferably with a friend.

It was after the sponge thought that he glanced at Sandy in front of him, who was almost marching defiantly to the Chum Bucket. SpongeBob almost blushed. He wished him and Sandy could be staring at that night's sky, not doing this – but it was a hopeless wish. It was something that had to be done, for Patrick's sake, for Bikini Bottom's sake, to put an end to years of madness.

After awhile, they saw the looming shadow of the Chum Bucket, with the Krusty Krab looking just as unfriendly on the other side of the road. SpongeBob noted how creepy ordinary things seemed to be in the dead of night. They continued on until they were at the front door of the Chum Bucket. Then, they both paused.

"Are you ready?" Sandy asked SpongeBob.

The sponge briefly hesitated. He replied, "Yes," but in reality, his stomach was churning. There was horrible feeling inside him that was telling him something was about to go wrong during the mission. But there wasn't much point turning back home now – SpongeBob was right in front of the Chum Bucket. If he walked out on Sandy right now, he would look like a huge wimp in her eyes; at least, that's what he thought.

"OK, then," Sandy announced. "Let's go and confront him." Her voice was low, not the usual cheery Texan drawl SpongeBob was used to. _Sandy must really want to defeat Plankton,_ he thought to himself.

Sandy pushed the doors of the Chum Bucket open, revealing only the blackest of darkness; until she shone the flashlight into the dining room. SpongeBob realised that Plankton had forgot to lock the front door to his restaurant. Not that the sponge didn't mind, of course. It saved the trouble of looking for another entrance.

Sandy stepped into the building, turning to SpongeBob, waiting for him to follow her. Mustering all his courage, the sponge entered the Chum Bucket, following Sandy from behind...

* * *

><p>Plankton was lying on the cold, steel desk of his office, his body hunched up, CCTV cameras blaring in nightvision. He couldn't sleep at all – paranoia, probably. The amoeba didn't know (most likely because of the darkness), but his appearance had changed. His pupil was now permanently shrunk, and he often shivered, even when he wasn't cold. His sight and memories were often fuzzy; not to mention he sometimes laughed at inappropriate moments. Plankton could no longer hear the voice that had plagued him yesterday, but what he didn't know was that the voice was now essentially controlling him.<p>

He had cleaned up all traces of Karen's body that morning, and locked the mechanical corpse in a storeroom. Plankton thought that if he had thrown Karen's remains away as rubbish, someone would probably recognise her – maybe the sponge-brat or the fat moron. He couldn't take any risks.

As he was lying there wide awake on the desk, he heard the entrance to the Chum Bucket open. Plankton became alert – he forgot to lock the front door! _Barnacles! _How'd he manage to do that?He turned to the CCTV screen, and saw two familiar-looking intruders...

It was the yellow imbecile and his squirrel friend.

Of course, Patrick had tipped him off.

Plankton cursed himself for not listening to his gut feeling – he _knew_ this was going to happen. But still, he wished that he had more time. Too late now. The amoeba had to go and confront the two intruders in his restaurant. He got up from the desk, pulled out a weapon and a mysterious ball, and groggily stepped out of the exit of his office, heading to the dining room of the Chum Bucket. All the while, his mind continued to succumb to madness. While Plankton still couldn't hear the dreaded voice, it surely must have been laughing at his pity...

* * *

><p>SpongeBob shivered with fear as he stepped deep into the darkness of the Chum Bucket's dining room. Even with the reassurance of Sandy and her flashlight in front of him, he was still very much scared. His stomach was filled with butterflies, and the threat of something going drastically wrong still lingered in the back of his mind. The sponge knew he shouldn't be regretting his decision to help Sandy with the mission now, but he almost did.<p>

Sandy stood in the middle of the room, aiming her flashlight at random areas. Cobwebs were in most corners of the dining room and under the tables, suggesting that no-one had visited the restaurant for ages. To be honest, in the duo's point of view, it was to be expected – when _was_ the last time someone had actually visited the Chum Bucket?

"Oh, darn it!" Sandy muttered under her breath. "I can't see anything in this darkness!" SpongeBob silently agreed with her, staying close to the squirrel. He could hear the sound of water dripping onto the floor – maybe because of rusting or broken pipes. Plankton probably didn't even have enough money to pay for repairs to his restaurant.

Suddenly, a new sound appeared out of the blue – the sound of a door opening. Startled, Sandy spun around quickly and aimed her flashlight at the direction of the noise. The beam of light revealed a slightly opened red door that was previously covered by the darkness; and the little amoeba that they were looking for at the bottom.

"Plankton!" Sandy exclaimed, still defiant as ever. SpongeBob remained close to Sandy, standing behind her. The sponge looked at Plankton with both disgust and terror – _**this**_ was the man that had tried to kill his best friend. _**This**_ was the man who had murdered countless others. _**This **_was the man who had been terrorising Bikini Bottom for years. SpongeBob certainly didn't want Plankton to escape justice now, especially since they were so close to victory.

As the sponge looked at Plankton, he noticed that something was wrong with him – most notably, his eye. His red pupil had shrunk to the point that SpongeBob could hardly see it. Plankton was also steadying himself on the door, his legs looking like they were about to give way at any moment – couldn't he stand up properly? SpongeBob was confused, but he was too afraid to mention anything.

Sandy stepped towards Plankton, prompting SpongeBob to hold onto her, to keep her back. The amoeba started to giggle, frightening SpongeBob further, and causing Sandy to look at him oddly. Plankton stopped giggling.

"Awww, it's kinda cute when the sponge holds onto you like that!" Plankton commented, then chuckled, a demented smile appearing on his face. Naturally, Sandy was not amused, while SpongeBob blushed madly, continuing to stare at Plankton. The sponge didn't think the amoeba would ever say something like that to anyone, let alone Sandy – sure, he _was_ holding onto Sandy's arm like a toddler just then, but why did Plankton remark about it so _creepily? _

Sandy, still surprised and creeped out by Plankton's comment, decided to finally get to her point: "We're not here for silliness, Plankton," she started. "We both know what y'all been doing." SpongeBob then nodded, the two of them making sure they were telling the murderer in front of them that they were serious.

Plankton's inane grin started to fade. "Don't tell me," he broke in before Sandy could say anything else; "Patrick told you everything?" Plankton wasn't too sure why he asked that question just now – he already knew the answer.

"Yes," Sandy replied. "And we're **not** going to let you get away with this!" SpongeBob glared at Plankton then, trying to make himself look strong.

Plankton chuckled again. "To be honest, I still can't believe it's taken this long for someone to catch me. The cops are so incompetent in this town, it's ridiculous! People can be sent to prison for littering, yet they can't even find any clues connected to missing people! It truly makes me lose faith in humanity."

SpongeBob and Sandy couldn't help but agree with Plankton, despite the fact that the amoeba was being a huge hypocrite. They both knew from first-hand experience the corruption of the Bikini Bottom Police Department.

"That's one of the reasons we came to confront you," SpongeBob stated, "Aside from **you** trying to **murder** my best friend!" The sponge's eyes began to water, as if he was about to cry. "If the cops won't do anything about you, then we'll make you confess ourselves!" SpongeBob tried his best to be brave in front of Plankton, but he wasn't convinced.

"Oh, SpongeBob..." the amoeba sighed. "I can tell you're still scared of me. Hiding behind and holding onto Sandy like a child, for one." He smiled freakishly again, his teeth showing. SpongeBob stepped back a little, frightened.

Sandy briefly glanced at the sponge, starting to grow impatient. "I've had enough of all this talking," she said. "Plankton, just confess what you've done and come with us to the cops - or we'll have to take you by force." The squirrel entered into a fighting stance.

"Oooh, I'm _sooo_ scared!" Plankton jeered, almost forgetting what Sandy could do with her karate skills.

Becoming angrier, Sandy stepped forward, taking no heed of SpongeBob's concern for her. Almost instantly, Plankton pulled out a gun behind his back, and aimed it at her. SpongeBob almost cried out in horror.

"Don't think that just because I'm small, I can't hurt you with this," he warned the two. Sandy simply stood in place, wondering what to do. Aside from the fact of how on earth Plankton was wielding that huge thing easily, she wasn't sure of what the madman was going to do. If she moved, would he shoot her on the spot? Or was he just using it as a threat, and it wasn't really loaded?

SpongeBob's fear that had been growing inside him since the beginning of the mission finally took form. Slowly, he started to step backwards, hoping to run away, ideally with Sandy. He truly didn't want to leave her behind; possibly to die. The sponge honestly wasn't selfish – he wanted to protect Sandy more than anything. But... but...

In a growing fit of panic, he started to sprint towards the door.

Sandy turned around and cried out SpongeBob's name as he ran away to the door. In a quick reaction, Plankton fired at the sponge, causing him to fall down onto the floor and cover his ears – SpongeBob wasn't injured, but he was heavily startled by the noise, and scared for his life. Lying on the floor, he started to whimper quietly to himself. Why, oh why did he decide to help Sandy with this mission?

Sandy tried to get closer to where SpongeBob was lying, but Plankton was still watching her every move, ready to shoot her at any moment. If the squirrel didn't feel trapped before, she certainly felt it now. Plankton, meanwhile, was pondering whether to actually kill the duo. Should he murder his two witnesses now and be done with them, or should he lock them up deep in the Chum Bucket's prisons and kill them later?

Hmmm... making the two suffer for awhile seemed like a more fun option.

Plankton grabbed the mysterious ball from behind him, making the still-trapped Sandy curious. Then, the amoeba threw the ball onto the floor, activating and opening it. The ball initially didn't seem to contain anything, prompting a confused reaction from Sandy – that was, until she could smell something odd in the air.

It smelt like a chemical of some kind.

The squirrel then began to feel dizzy, accidentally falling onto a table. She tried to keep her balance by holding onto it, but alas, she couldn't. Sandy slid down from the table onto the floor, her eyes closing, falling into a deep sleep.

_It was sleeping gas._

SpongeBob had been watching the events happening to his friend, and cried out for Sandy. The gas was spreading quickly around the dining room, and was starting to affect him. He could no longer see Plankton anywhere – maybe he had escaped when Sandy was falling asleep. He would be small enough to evade sight. SpongeBob then felt tired and yawned loudly, his eyes closing as well.

He too, then fell asleep.

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><p><strong>This felt more and more rushed towards the end. I had huge problems writing this chapter, and my "family emergency" really made writing this worse. I'm really sorry about this. :(<strong>


	14. Chapter 13: Desperation

**This chapter took WAY too long to be written. Writer's block is a horrible thing. :/**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 13 – Desperation<strong>

Patrick suddenly woke up with a start, feeling a sense of danger.

The feeling was swirling around his stomach horribly, making the starfish feel physically sick. While most people would have put the feeling down as mere anxiety (and of course, he had a genuine reason to be worried that day), Patrick knew that the ill feeling was some kind of warning – he didn't exactly know what warning, but he prayed that it wasn't related to his two friends.

Speaking of SpongeBob and Sandy... How did the mission turn out? Did they succeed? Was Plankton stopped? Did they both manage to get back home safely? Thinking of those questions only made Patrick feel worse, but he couldn't help it. There was something in the back of his mind that was essentially saying something terrible happened to them both last night. Wanting to forget the worst, Patrick got out of bed, got changed and made his breakfast.

As the starfish sat on his couch and watched the morning news (it was a slow news day), he couldn't bear to eat. He felt too sick to even try. Patrick knew that something must be severely wrong with him if he couldn't even eat something; yet he knew it wasn't because he was genuinely ill. It was fear – fear for the safety of his friends.

Unable to consume anything, Patrick conceded defeat and left his breakfast untouched – he had to see SpongeBob and Sandy right now; just so he could put his mind at rest. Clutching his whirling stomach as he stood up from his couch, Patrick left his rock and headed towards SpongeBob's pineapple, breathing deeply and shivering in the warm summer sea as he stumbled past Squidward's Easter Island head. He felt like he wanted to vomit – bile was rising in the starfish's throat...

...But fortunately, he didn't. Patrick managed to make it to the front door of SpongeBob's house without any consequences; yet it felt like an hour-long journey to him, instead of a few seconds of walking.

Even though Patrick was right in front of SpongeBob's door, he couldn't bring himself to knock it – he was frozen in place for no clear reason. Was it because he was scared? Most likely. But it was no time to back away from the truth now. Using all that he had of his strength, and trying his best to ignore the pains in his stomach, Patrick willed his right arm up and did his best to knock on the door loudly – so that at least SpongeBob could hear him.

But there was no response. No-one opened the door from the other side.

The alarm bells that had been waiting to go off since Patrick woke up finally sprung to life in his mind. Surely SpongeBob would open the door to him under any circumstance, even if he had to get out of bed? He was his friend! In desperate fear, Patrick knocked on the door again, and called out SpongeBob's name.

Still no response.

Patrick started to panic. Didn't SpongeBob come home last night? Oh Neptune, did something horrible happen to him and Sandy during the mission? Patrick tried the door one more time, his knocking turning into banging. Never mind that Squidward could probably hear him; this was now a matter of life and death.

_Still no response._

After he realised that the door would not open, Patrick decided to run to Sandy's treedome – if she wasn't home, then the two of them would certainly be in danger right now. If she was home, then where was SpongeBob? _I might be overreacting_, Patrick thought. _Maybe SpongeBob's really tired and he didn't hear me at the door? _Patrick hoped, almost begged that his thoughts were true; and that he was just worrying over nothing.

Patrick banged on Sandy's door – he didn't mean to do that, but this situation was critical.

_No response._

Suddenly, another feeling appeared inside Patrick – a gut feeling; and a strange gut feeling at that. It felt like it was trying to tell him something... Something like a direction...?

...His gut feeling was telling him to go to the Chum Bucket.

Patrick truly didn't know why, but he had a strong assumption that SpongeBob and Sandy were trapped in the Chum Bucket. Of course, the starfish was still too frightened to go back to the place where he almost died – but what else could he do right now; and who else would help him? If he went to Squidward for help, he certainly wouldn't care. The police were also out of the question; they wouldn't believe someone like him. Maybe Mr. Krabs would help? But that incident in the Krusty Krab...

It was a difficult decision, but Patrick chose the one that was the most dangerous – he would have to go to the Chum Bucket alone.

It was crazy; he knew it. He would be at risk of getting killed again. But this was about the possible fate of his friends now. And if he was wrong? Well...

As Patrick slowly headed towards the Chum Bucket, he could feel the gut feeling inside him grow stronger. He hoped it was correct about the assumption. He didn't want to be under the clutches of Plankton again, of course – possibly to die for real.

He looked up randomly towards the sky – grey clouds were gathering in a moody cluster. The change in weather was probably inevitable after all the sunshine in the past few days, but Patrick thought that it was another warning of danger...

* * *

><p><em>...Where am I...?<em>

_Actually, this feels like deja vu... I feel like I'm back in the hospital with that huge headache. Yet this time, I know what happened to me previously..._

_Plankton knocked me and Sandy out with sleeping gas._

SpongeBob slowly woke up from what felt like the deepest sleep he had ever had – but in retrospect, he might as well have carried on sleeping. The prison he had found himself in was pitch-black, with not a window or a lamp to brighten the room up. If he could even see anything about his prison, SpongeBob would have thought it was in a dismal state.

Even though there was no light at all, the sponge could still tell that Sandy was in the same cell as he was – he could hear her breathing deeply. Crawling over to where he could hear her, SpongeBob managed to find Sandy's body and nudged her gently.

"Sandy! Sandy!" SpongeBob whispered.

The squirrel didn't budge.

SpongeBob shook her a little harder. "Sandy!" SpongeBob repeated. "Wake up, Sandy!"

"Hmm?" Sandy yawned a little.

"Sandy, wake up!" SpongeBob continued to repeat. "I know it's really hard to see, but I'm here! I think we've been locked up somewhere by Plankton."

Sandy groggily woke up, her memory trying to recall what had happened to her and SpongeBob previously. Absently, she asked him, "Ugh... what happened to us...?"

"Plankton knocked us out with sleeping gas," SpongeBob told her straight.

"Oh yeah..." Sandy recalled. She took an arm into her airsuit and rubbed her forehead with her hand, sighing. "I wish I could see where we are. Do I still have my flashlight?"

SpongeBob remembered the flashlight. It would be extremely useful if they had it right now, but Sandy most likely dropped it when she was knocked out by the sleeping gas. He couldn't remember that little detail – it was something too trivial. That, and it was much too dark in the cell to search for it properly, even if the flashlight did happen to be thrown in with them.

Sandy seemed to have realised the dilemma SpongeBob had noted – she sighed again. SpongeBob scooted a little closer towards her.

"It's clear that we're stuck in here for the time being," Sandy stated the obvious. "We don't know how long we've been here. It might be morning, afternoon or night. We can't tell because there's no window here."

SpongeBob muttered a "Yeah," to acknowledge what Sandy was saying.

"There's not much we can do now, but sit here..." the squirrel hunched her body closer. SpongeBob shuffled closer towards her and put an arm around her. He hated seeing Sandy like this - she was usually so much stronger.

Time passed, with not a word spoken between the two of them. The situation was too sombre for mere small talk. For all SpongeBob and Sandy knew, it could have only been five minutes, or as long as five hours – time didn't matter when you're locked up in a blackened prison cell. It took Sandy a simple question to finally break the long, painful silence:

"Do you remember when you accused me of knowing something about Plankton at your house?"

SpongeBob, who had been out of focus for a long time, snapped back to reality when he heard Sandy's voice. "Huh? Oh, yeah," he said, even though he didn't actually listen to her question properly.

"Well... there's a secret I've been keeping from you. From Patrick. From everyone in this town."

SpongeBob sat up, extremely curious.

"I'll think y'all most likely be horrified when I tell you this, though..." Sandy faltered. SpongeBob told her to go on – he was her best friend. Secrets shouldn't be kept hidden from best friends.

Sandy hesitated for a brief moment, then took a deep breath, still unsure whether to reveal her secret. SpongeBob remained patient – the squirrel was just as frightened as him right now. It wouldn't be right to pressure her to spill it out.

"I..." Sandy began, pausing again before regaining a bit of confidence. "I... knew what chum was made out of all along."

SpongeBob was obviously shocked by the revelation. He could only manage a "What?!" It couldn't be true – Sandy _knew_ what chum was made out of all this time; yet she didn't tell anyone in Bikini Bottom?

"I knew what chum was made out of long before I came to Bikini Bottom," Sandy explained, her voice breaking. "A lot of people on land happen to know that chum is dead fish. But the sea is often isolated from the land, and I was pretty sure little to no sea-critter would know what often happens to them on land."

SpongeBob recalled the tales Mr. Krabs had told him about what happened to sea-creatures on the land – particularly, the part about being vacuum-packed into a tuna can. He then remembered the time when he thought he was going to die via "hooking", then later found out it was just a cruel prank by Krabs himself; with Squidward as an accomplice. Come to think of it, SpongeBob had had many close calls with death in the past.

"When I first saw the name of Plankton's restaurant," Sandy continued, "I assumed that he didn't know what the word 'chum' meant on the surface world. So I pushed that thought deep in the back of my mind. But it seemed that I was wrong. _Horribly _wrong_._ When we were all gathered in your kitchen, that thought completely came back out of the blue. That's why I acted that way – y'know, all defensive, crying..."

SpongeBob understood Sandy perfectly. It truly must have been hard for her to realise that her assumption had been right all along - especially since she never told anyone under the ocean what chum actually was before all this happened. The sad truth was, SpongeBob most likely wouldn't have believed Sandy if she told him the truth long before all of this. _Chum is made out of fish? What a load of barnacles! _But it was the cold, harsh reality – and Sandy felt completely _awful_ for keeping the secret bottled away for so long.

The squirrel went silent again for a moment, thinking of something else to say.

"I'm so sorry the mission went all haywire..." she apologized.

"You don't have to apologize, Sandy," SpongeBob reassured her. "It's Plankton who should apologize for everything he's done." SpongeBob was never one for bearing grudges and swearing revenge on others, but Plankton was someone who had crossed the line in his book.

"No... it _is_ my fault, SpongeBob," Sandy reflected back. "I was the one who planned the mission in the first place. And it's all gone wrong..." she started to sob. "And now we're locked up in here!" SpongeBob hugged his friend tightly – this wasn't like Sandy at all. Where was the Sandy that kicked butt at karate? The Sandy that could invent some kind of contraption to help them get out of the cell? This Sandy was merely a tearful shell – a shell that had been sealed away for a long time, until now.

As the duo sat there on the floor of the prison cell, SpongeBob then realised something – _someone_ was bound to know sooner or later that they had disappeared at complete random. Maybe someone would start a search for them – most likely someone like Mr. Krabs, or maybe even Patrick - but he then remembered the fates of the previous missing fish. They had all "disappeared" without a trace via Plankton.

And it seemed likely that he and Sandy would be next.

* * *

><p>He didn't know how long the walk took him – time meant nothing when your friends are possibly in danger - but Patrick was finally in front of the Chum Bucket's doors nonetheless.<p>

It was now well into the morning. The sky had been completely covered by clouds threatening to rain - the starfish was now truly certain that the change of weather was another severe warning, alongside his aching stomach.

Patrick still felt ill, but he knew he couldn't back away now – especially since he still had the assumption that his friends were trapped under the Chum Bucket like him before. That, or his gut feeling had been lying to him the whole time. Patrick hoped that the latter wasn't true - the feeling was too strong, too convincing to be one huge lie.

Still afraid of entering the place where he almost died, Patrick took all what was left of his courage and entered through the doors of the Chum Bucket, stepping into the same darkness that SpongeBob and Sandy went through last night...

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><p><strong>Oh my God, I've <em>finally<em> finished this chapter! Now I'm just gonna pass out. XD**


	15. Chapter 14: Innocence

**According to planning, as of this upload, there are now only four chapters left of this story – five if I include an epilogue. (To be honest, knowing that actually makes me kinda sad...)**

**I was going to start this chapter in Patrick's POV, but I was having huge problems writing it. So I switched it to Plankton's. Luckily, the POV switch helped me to get more writing done. :P**

**Enjoy this chapter, anyhow. :)**

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><p><strong><span>Chapter 14 - Innocence<span>  
><strong>

Plankton was contemplating alone when he heard the rusting doors to the Chum Bucket open – contemplating about killing SpongeBob and Sandy.

...Well, he wasn't really alone; if a demented figment of one's imagination counted as being with someone (or something) else. Not to mention that in a strange way, Plankton wasn't really the one who was thinking of murdering the sponge and the squirrel – it was actually the voice that had mocked him the other night doing the gruesome plotting.

The voice and Plankton had been mentally duelling each other since after the first time the latter blacked out – and the amoeba was losing the battle, despite hopeless attempts at regaining his sanity. The voice had been festering away deep inside him for years; and now, it was becoming too strong to keep under control.

Ever since Plankton committed his first murder, the voice had been slowly growing in the back of his mind. As the years went by, it grew stronger, finally taking form on the day when Karen confessed her betrayal. Seeing a chance to take control of the situation, the voice went ahead and briefly took hold of Plankton's mind, murdering the computer in the process. Plankton couldn't really remember what happened during Karen's murder, since it was in control of his mind at the time.

In other words, the voice – Plankton's inner psycho – was the one who had killed Karen and locked SpongeBob and Sandy below the Chum Bucket. Plankton knew perfectly well what he was doing when he had previously kidnapped Patrick, but he had zero intention of ending Karen's life. He didn't exactly have a grip on reality when he confronted the sponge/squirrel duo, either. Plankton had finally acknowledged and understood what Karen was saying to him before she died – that he was falling to madness.

And that madness was destroying him; and everyone else around him.

After the creaking noise of the double doors broke Plankton's (or much rather, the voice's) trail of thoughts, he glanced towards the CCTV screen. Upon seeing who was visiting, the amoeba's heart skipped a beat.

It was Patrick.

All Plankton could do was stare at the screen and watch the starfish nervously enter the Chum Bucket. But the voice was much more pleasantly surprised to see Patrick again than its host. Immediately, it began planning.

"Ah, so that barnaclehead's decided to come back for more, eh?" it sneered malevolently. "We can't let him get away this time, Sheldon."

"Please stop calling me Sheldon," Plankton asked politely to the voice – his inner demon. It was completely pointless, but by now, he didn't know what to do or who to turn to. He used to have a moral conscious in the form of his former wife, Karen – but he had ignored her, and now she was dead. If he went anywhere else, he would surely be caught out on his killing spree. Still, the voice ignored his request.

"This time, we'll lock him up again and kill him for real; along with the porous freak and the fleabag below. Then surely, we'll be off the hook! They're the only three witnesses, and they'd all be dead! We won't be caught!"

Plankton in his last stretch of sanity knew that wasn't true – Mr. Krabs would certainly wonder where his best fry cook had gone to. He would never be 'off the hook'. There would always be a chain of witnesses. The vicious cycle of murder and misery would never end.

The voice seemed to be listening in on Plankton's thoughts, as it responded: "We'll turn this place into a ghost town if we have to. I'm not giving up the game, and neither are you."

"I told you before, I don't want to do this anymore!" Plankton almost broke into a yell. After all these years, the amoeba was starting to feel guilt and remorse for his actions – not that anyone else but himself would know that. Most people only saw Plankton as a failure; or in Patrick, SpongeBob and Sandy's case, a complete monster. It was much too late for him to apologise. Yet the voice ignored him again.

"What's he doing now?" it asked, referring to Patrick. Plankton listened to him in a act of irony, and turned back towards the screen. The starfish was still walking around the dining room, looking confused and frightened. Then he spotted a door – the door to the underground corridors.

"If he goes down below, it'll be a perfect chance to get him," the voice suggested menacingly. "He'll get lost easily in those corridors. In fact, the moron's making this job easier!"

Plankton prayed that Patrick wouldn't enter the door to the underground corridors. Truth be told, he was starting to feel some sympathy for the starfish, despite everything that he had done to him. It was weird feeling that Plankton couldn't understand – yet still understood perfectly. But alas, the prayer went unanswered as Patrick headed towards and passed through the door.

The voice saw its cue. "Come on," it tried to command Plankton. "Let's go down one of the alternate ways to the corridors. Then we'll catch him off-guard, and have him under our clutches again."

"Who in Davy Jones' Locker do you mean, 'we'?" Plankton retorted angrily, still trying to fight against the monster that had grown inside his mind.

The voice paused for a little after the outburst. "Well Sheldon," it sighed, "if you're gonna act that way, then I guess I'll have to _force_ you to do this."

Plankton knew what was coming next. Almost instantly, he began to lose comprehension of his well-being, and his mind started to blur – the same symptoms as last time, only he now knew exactly what was happening to him. Like the previous time, Plankton collapsed to the floor as the world around him started to distort again. In a last ditch effort, he tried to fight against the voice, but it was no use – it was becoming only more powerful by the hours. Plankton could feel himself blacking out as the inner psycho controlling his mind laughed to itself quietly...

* * *

><p>Patrick's first mistake was following his gut feeling and heading down below into the Chum Bucket's maze-like corridors. His second mistake was going to the Chum Bucket completely alone.<p>

Unlike the previous times he had passed through the corridors, there was no Plankton or Karen to lead him through – either by dragging him around everywhere (the former) or leading him on the right path (the latter.) Patrick was the only living being present on the corridors.

_Or was he...?_

The starfish couldn't help it, but he felt that someone else was watching him. It may have just been a combination of fear and paranoia spawned from the situation he was in, but Patrick wasn't really convinced that his imagination was trying to trick him. He really could feel someone's eyes watching him. Or rather, a certain madman's one eye...

Unaware, Patrick started to walk faster; an offset of growing panic. His stomach was still in pain, but by now, he had gotten used to it. Yet the gut feeling still lingered. In fact, with every step he took, it grew stronger. Maybe his assumption about the whereabouts of his friends was really correct after all – but the starfish was still uncertain. Right now, he was stuck in the labyrinth that was the Chum Bucket's secret underground corridors, with no idea where SpongeBob and Sandy could be.

Throughout the maze, the walls and flooring had exactly the same décor – grimy, cold metal. It was easy for Patrick to become confused, so he compensated by going completely straight down the first corridor he ended up on. He then came upon three routes – two going left and right, and one carrying straight on. Did he just pass those same two corners, or were they completely different ones? Patrick didn't know. It was almost impossible to know – they all looked the same to him. He carried straight on, lest he confused himself even more.

Suddenly, the starfish heard a noise. Stopping instantly, he turned around and looked behind, the panic inside him building up. All he could see was metal continuing into what looked like a void of infinity. Maybe it was just water dripping onto the floor? He carried on walking, going slower than before.

_Step._

Oh Neptune. That didn't sound like a water droplet. That sounded like a footstep.

Patrick went a little further, taking one step at a time; waiting for another sound.

"Hello there, Patrick."

The starfish froze. He could recognise the voice – that ice cold voice. Slowly, he turned behind and spotted him.

Plankton.

Patrick _knew_ that the amoeba had been watching – no, _stalking _him since he'd descended into the corridors. He'd felt his eye on him, no doubt about that. As he could only stare at Plankton, the starfish noticed that his appearance was different – for one, he looked older than usual for some reason. That, and there was something visibly wrong with the eye that had been watching him – it looked crazed, dilated. Patrick's heart started to beat faster.

"How nice of you to come back, Pat," Plankton said politely, in a dissonant way. Patrick wasn't convinced by his pretend-kindness.

"Where are SpongeBob and Sandy?" he asked directly, unsure of what he was doing now. His brain was a complete mess of worry, fleeting with random thoughts and actions.

"I had thought you'd be a bit more courteous than that," the amoeba replied, the dissonance still there.

"Just tell me where they are!" Patrick's voice almost rose into a shout, feeling the panic inside him rise further. Plankton remained unfazed, then randomly turned his back on him.

"To be honest, I thought you were going to ask me about Karen first," he commented, then took a step away from Patrick for no real reason.

_Karen. _Patrick couldn't have forgotten about her. Wait... Why did Plankton mention Karen just then? Did he know that she betrayed him? Questions were starting to dart Patrick's mind at all corners. Still unaware of what he was really doing, he asked Plankton a question of his own:

"Is... is Karen OK?"

Plankton still had his back to Patrick. Upon hearing the question, he smiled maliciously. If Patrick could see his face at that moment, he would have thought the amoeba was the devil incarnate. After thinking over the question for a brief moment, he replied; "What if I told you she was dead?"

Patrick's eyes widened in shock at the reply. _Karen dead?_ It couldn't be true... No, it's not true. Plankton was just cruelly messing with him, right? _Right?_

The monster in front of the starfish seemed to be able to read his mind, as he said, "Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but Karen's been... How should I put this?" He turned to his side, his eye half-closed. Patrick's breathing was becoming ragged, along with sweat forming on his body – the tension was killing him.

"Let's just say Karen's been..." Plankton paused, then faced Patrick again, an evil grin forming on his face; "..._Turned into a heap of scrap metal._"

Patrick wasn't so stupid as to not understand metaphors. The only thing he could do at that revelation was stare straight ahead and try to comprehend it all. If he understood the metaphor properly, Karen had been killed by Plankton. The computer that had saved his life once was dead. It was almost impossible for him to believe it.

"No..." Patrick uttered softly. Tears started to fall from his eyes. Suddenly, a wave of emotion hit the starfish like a ton of bricks, and he started to sob uncontrollably. Plankton just stared at him, unable to feel anything.

"How could you...?" Patrick managed to get a few words in-between sobs. "...How could you, you... you _**monster!**_" He collapsed to the floor unknowingly, overcome with denial, guilt and horror. In the amoeba's eyes, Patrick's display was a huge annoyance. Then he saw a chance – the chance to capture him again.

Patrick wasn't looking at Plankton – he didn't want to see the man who had killed his saviour. Using that chance, the amoeba drew a hidden gun from behind and aimed it at him, cocking it.

Patrick heard the noise, and looked at him. Then he saw the silver in front of him.

_A loaded gun. _

_**Fishpaste.**_

Patrick tried to shuffle away from Plankton, but he simply yelled, "Don't move! I can easily blow your head off with this!" The starfish was now panicking, but he couldn't simply escape – there were no nearby corners for him to duck into, and there was no Karen to rescue him now. He was trapped once again by a madman who wanted to use him for his horrible chum - with a loaded firearm to boot.

Patrick was now hyperventilating as Plankton took a couple of steps towards him. That's it. He had to make a run for it. No time for any second thoughts.

In what felt like fast-forward, Patrick tried to stand up and run away from the monster. Realising what he was trying to do, Plankton shot at his right leg, leaving a clear bullet wound behind. The starfish collapsed on the floor, groaning in serious pain, yet he still tried to shuffle away from him. Plankton walked up to his face, aiming the gun at his temple.

"If you do anything else stupid, you'll end up joining Karen," he warned him bluntly. Patrick didn't say anything. Tears were still rolling down his face from a combination of the pain from the leg wound, his persistent stomach ache, and the fate of Karen.

Putting the gun away for the time being, Plankton grabbed hold of one of the starfish's huge, chubby hands and started to drag his body around the underground corridors. Patrick may have been heavy, but he was also weak from his wound – and Plankton was surprisingly strong for such a small creature.

The starfish was beginning to black out. The last thing he could remember was asking his captor, "Where are you taking me?"

The madman casually, yet malevolently replied, "To your friends." A trail of blood from the leg wound was left behind as the amoeba pulled the body of Patrick to his new prison.

* * *

><p><strong>I was listening to the Higurashi soundtrack as I was writing this chapter. If you ask me, it was quite helpful with picturing out the scenes in my head, then writing them down.<strong>

**Also, Plankton's really catching the crazy now...**

**Read and review as usual. :P**


	16. Chapter 15: Suspicion

**If anyone was expecting me to write about what happened to Patrick right after the last chapter's cliffhanger, then prepared to be disappointed. :P**

**...Actually, after what happened in the last chapter, a "breather" chapter was probably a good idea. That, and this chapter is from the point of view of a character I haven't written about previously – Mr. Krabs.**

**Enjoy, as usual.**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 15 – Suspicion<strong>

Mr. Krabs sighed heavily as he placed the arm of the telephone back on its handle. He had been trying to call SpongeBob all afternoon; both out of concern for his best fry cook and because he wanted to know the earliest date he could return to work – the Krusty Krab had been losing profits that month, no doubt because of Squidward being forced to take over SpongeBob's job, despite having no knowledge of good fry-cooking; hence customers being driven away by bad food. Briefly admitting defeat, Krabs took a short chance to relax in his office chair.

Glancing through his office window, Krabs noticed that it was starting to become dark – he knew it was almost closing time. Today had actually gone by rather quickly, what with him trying to repeatedly call SpongeBob and all. He truly hoped that the boy was OK, especially after that incident involving him, Sandy and Patrick.

"_Mr. Krabs... P-Plankton kidnapped Patrick. He was going to kill him. Chum is actually made out of fish..."_

That sentence was still burned into Krabs' mind. He was still having trouble believing that Plankton could be a heartless killer; which was quite strange, considering what the amoeba had done to him, his employees and his restaurant in the past. But he had seen the tears in SpongeBob's eyes. If he was lying, surely he wouldn't act like that? Not to mention how Sandy and Patrick reacted...

As his mind was lost in thought, Krabs realised that it was now too late for him to attempt one last call to the SquarePants residence. Getting up from his desk to inform Squidward that his shift was over, the crab made a mental note to try and call SpongeBob when he got home.

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><p>It was the next morning, and there was still no word from SpongeBob.<p>

Mr. Krabs was now becoming increasingly worried – he couldn't get through to the sponge when he got home last night, and he still couldn't reach him after opening time in the Krusty Krab. By this point, the crab was starting to wonder if something had happened to SpongeBob – he wouldn't just ignore his phone for no good reason, right?

As Krabs' anxiety started to grow, a sudden theory popped into his mind. It was a chilling theory; one that would usually be considered a worst case scenario. But Krabs couldn't let himself debunk it. He'd just recalled what SpongeBob had said the other day about Plankton kidnapping and murdering people. The crab really didn't want to think about his loyal fry cook in danger, but could it be...?

Unsure of what to do now, Krabs decided to talk to his only other employee, Squidward.

The cephalopod was busy reading a magazine (there were no customers yet) when he heard the door to his boss's office open.

"Mr. Squidward!" Krabs called him. "May I speak to you in me office?"

Squidward stopped reading nonchalantly, automatically deducing that Krabs wanted to talk to him about work-related matters. But as he got up from the cash register, he took a quick look at his boss's face; and an expression of utter worry greeted him back. Squidward couldn't remember the last time – or any time – he had ever saw Mr. Krabs like that. Whatever the crab wanted to discuss, it certainly must involve a topic much more dire than simple work.

Once the cephalopod was in the office, Krabs closed the door behind him. Squidward was still unsure of what was concerning his boss so much, but he wasn't about to let his usual demeanour break.

"Mr. Squidward," Krabs started, "you know perfectly well that SpongeBob hasn't been in for work in the last few days?"

Squidward merely nodded, wondering why Krabs was stating the obvious to him. Being forced to take over cooking duty was enough evidence for him to know that SpongeBob had been missing from work.

"Well..." the crab pondered briefly. "...I've been trying to call the boy at his house since yesterday afternoon, just to see if he was alright – but I've had no reply from him at all. It's like he's just ignoring his phone – or he's not even home at all."

Squidward knew that Krabs was calling SpongeBob just because he wanted to know when he could come back to work, even though that was only half the reason. Not that the cephalopod often remembered that the crab had a caring, fatherly side to him – most of the time, he knew Mr. Krabs as an infamous money-hog.

"Also," the crab continued, "do you remember what the boy said about Plankton the other day?"

Squidward got the first chance to say something in the conversation; "You mean the story about Plankton almost killing Patrick?" he deadpanned unsympathetically. He wanted to talk about _that _story again? Wait, he doesn't actually _**believe**_ it...

"Well... this might sound really crazy, but..." Krabs hesitated, then finished off his sentence; "...I think Plankton's somehow kidnapped SpongeBob."

Squidward became dumbfounded. _This_ was why Krabs looked so worried? Because he decided to believe in a ridiculous story by the sponge-brat? His mind couldn't comprehend it. He had to say something.

"Mr. Krabs, have you lost your mind?!" the cephalopod stated angrily. In retrospect, he shouldn't have said that, but Krabs just looked at him with the same anxiety that Squidward saw when he was leaving the cash register.

"Yes, I know I look crazy," Krabs admitted. "But thinking of what SpongeBob said the other day, and how Sandy and Patrick reacted, I honestly think he might be telling the truth. I looked deep into his eyes, Squidward. I saw tears. He was utterly heartbroken when he thought I didn't believe him. Patrick too."

Squidward then recalled the incident himself. He remembered how horrified SpongeBob looked when he started laughing at his story. Then he remembered Sandy's look of utter rage, like she wanted to physically kill him. If they were lying at the time, then they surely must have practised long and hard for the perfect performance. But if not...

"So, you think the reason that SpongeBob is not answering your phone calls is because he's been kidnapped by Plankton?" Squidward asked Krabs dryly, still adamantly refusing to believe the sponge's story. Krabs could tell that his employee wasn't convinced at all.

"Well, I'm sorry I wasted your time," the crab apologized, his voice softening. "The first customers will be here in a minute. Go back to your post for the time being." Glad to be dismissed and away from the odd conversation, Squidward left the office to return to the cash register.

Krabs was once again alone in his office. He sighed once more, and made up his mind to visit the Chum Bucket tonight after work. Not to accuse Plankton of stealing the Krabby Patty formula – for some reason, there had been less attempted thefts by the amoeba recently – but to ask him some questions. Questions regarding the Bikini Bottom disappearances, and what he heard from SpongeBob about him. Plankton probably wouldn't answer his door to him, but Krabs was now so curious about SpongeBob's story that he wanted to investigate it further by himself.

He heard the first customer of the day enter the restaurant. Today would probably go by slowly...

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><p><strong>I've noticed that the chapters for this story have been getting longer as I went along. This chapter was only four pages long.<strong>

**Next chapter, we _will _get back to SpongeBob, Sandy and now Patrick's dilemma. Sorry this chapter was just filler, but I wanted to give the story a chance to "breath" after the last chapter's action.**


	17. Chapter 16: Trepidation

**...And now, my loyal readers, you will learn of what happened to Mr. Patrick Star after he was shot in the leg and recaptured by the evil villain, Plankton! Hope this makes up for the previous filler chapter.**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 16 – Trepidation<strong>

Patrick couldn't remember much of what happened to him after he'd passed out from Plankton's bullet wound in the leg. But from his fleeting moments of consciousness, the starfish could recall staring at the corridor ceiling, feeling the cold metal floor scrape on his back before passing out again; suddenly waking up to see Plankton opening a metal door; and finally, hearing the amoeba say, "Thought you two could do with some more company," without a hint of sympathy or concern in his voice. After that, Plankton threw Patrick's heavy, limp body into the room, and he blacked out completely.

He didn't know how long he was out cold for, but to Patrick, he could have been asleep for either a couple of minutes or many hours. Time no longer mattered to the starfish. All he knew was that he started to become conscious again when it felt like something was shaking his body, and whispering in his ear. The wound in his leg was still painful, his mind and body still asleep. Yet the whispers persisted...

"_Patrick!"_

The starfish felt a sudden jolt pulse through his body. Against the barrage of whispers, the voice of someone calling his name had broken through to him. Unless his mind was playing extremely clever tricks on him, someone who knew Patrick was probably trying to wake him up – someone else who was most likely in the same situation as him, being held against their will by Plankton. But curiosity only enlightened Patrick's subconscious for a brief moment, as he started to fall back to sleep again...

"_Patrick! Wake up!"_

There was another jolt; enough to bring the starfish's subconscious away from slumber, fully alert – however, Patrick had still not entirely awakened from his unconsciousness. He could only see a void of blackness around him, but the starfish could still feel that he was beginning to awaken, both in the body and in the mind. The pains in his leg were getting stronger, the voices were getting louder, and the tone was becoming more recognisable. In fact, the voice sounded _very_ familiar. Patrick really hoped that his mind wasn't playing cruel, taunting jokes on him, because it sounded like...

"_Pat! It's me, SpongeBob!"_

Yes, it sounded like SpongeBob. Just having hope that SpongeBob was right beside him trying to wake him up was enough to give Patrick strength to break his unconsciousness. Feeling his mind and body starting to awaken, the starfish could tell that he was about to escape from his slumber very soon. Any moment now, Patrick would know where he was – and who was really waking him up...

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><p>"Pat! Can you hear me?"<p>

Patrick woke up slowly, his entire being in a daze from sleeping for what felt like a long time. As he tried opening his eyes, he became confused – open or closed, all the starfish could see was darkness. But fortunately, his mental processes were beginning to function properly again, and it then hit him – he really _was_ awake, and his eyes _were_ open. He was just in a dark room.

A dark room? _Oh, __**barnacles**_. Patrick already knew where he was – a place that he had never wanted to revisit again for the rest of his life, even of his own accord.

The starfish tried to move, but he was halted by a shooting pain in his leg – he then remembered what had happened between him and Plankton. That monster. Even though he wasn't the kind for holding grudges (like SpongeBob), Patrick knew that he would never be able to forgive Plankton for shooting at him point blank, for trying to murder him previously, for anything. Feeling anger and hatred for the amoeba rise in his heart, Patrick was getting ready to rot in the blackness of the underground prison cells once again – until he felt someone shake his shoulder.

"Patrick? Are you awake now, buddy?"

Patrick turned to the voice's direction – although he couldn't see who was there at all, it sounded extremely familiar to him; so much that he was assuming who was there. Foregoing any caution, the starfish decided to ask a simple question:

"SpongeBob? Is that you?"

Patrick couldn't see, but SpongeBob's face had broken into one of the biggest smiles he'd ever had in his entire life. "Pat, you're awake!" he cheered and hugged the starfish, accidentally kneeling on his injured leg.

"OW!" Patrick cried out in pain. SpongeBob pulled back when he heard his best friend's yelp, looking rejected – not that Patrick could see.

"Are you OK, Patrick?" the sponge asked, naturally concerned.

"I'm fine, SpongeBob..." the starfish trailed off, "...Expect for my leg."

"What happened to it?"

"Plankton shot me."

"_**WHAT?!**_" a southern drawl exclaimed alongside SpongeBob's high-pitched tone at the revelation. Patrick could recognise that accent anywhere.

"Sandy?" he asked in the darkness. "Are you there too?"

"Yeah, it's me," Sandy replied. "It's too dang dark to see anything in here! I really wish I had my flashlight right now... But what did you just say about Plankton?! He shot you?!"

Patrick then got the chance to explain his long story to SpongeBob and Sandy – about waking up with a stomach ache, about following his gut feeling, about his confrontation with Plankton, up to the moment he shot him in the leg. After that, he had to stop – he couldn't remember any more after he blacked out, aside from fleeting memories from the small moments of consciousness he had.

SpongeBob and Sandy then explained their story – about their own battle with Plankton, and the extremely creepy way he had acted towards them. Sandy also revealed to Patrick her secret regarding chum, in that she knew what it was made out of all along. The starfish was shocked, but Sandy debunked any thoughts he had about her; she told him what she had told SpongeBob - that most land-creatures knew what chum was, and that sea-creatures were so isolated from the land, they wouldn't have known in the first place. Overall, the trio were glad to know that they were all fine – aside from Patrick's injury, and reuniting in such a frightening place.

For a while, not much else was said between the three friends – until SpongeBob uttered a fateful question:

"I wonder if Karen's alright?"

Patrick felt his heart skip a beat. They didn't seem to know anything about Karen's fate. The starfish pondered whether to break the news to SpongeBob and Sandy, especially after the reunion they had; but the two would probably start worrying about her. He had to tell them – no matter how sad the news was.

"Guys..." Patrick started, a lump forming in his throat, "...Karen's dead. Plankton killed her for helping me escape. He told me."

Under the cover of darkness, Sandy and SpongeBob knew that both themselves and each other were in complete shock. The latter even felt tears form in his eyes. They couldn't believe it – Plankton had killed Karen. Although the sponge and the squirrel knew that the computer had put her life at extreme risk by helping Patrick, they had truly hoped with their last shimmers of idealism that Karen would be alive and safe – but alas, it was not to be. She was dead, murdered by her husband's cold, bloodstained hands. Out of everything that had happened to all three of them so far, Karen's death was probably the event that wounded them the most – especially Patrick.

For a long time, the trio mourned Karen. By this point, time had become completely irrelevant to the three – in their eyes, it was now only a simple measurement. As they sat on the floor of the underground prison cell and remembered Karen, that "simple measurement" passed by like a blur – so much that they were all startled when they heard the chilling noise of their cell door opening. SpongeBob, Patrick and Sandy had no doubt as to who was visiting them.

A huge chink of light rushed through the door, forcing the trio to shield their eyes. Once they had all adjusted to the light, the three looked towards the door and saw a familiar, small figure casting a long shadow into the cell – Plankton. Although it was hard to tell because of the shadow in front of him, Sandy noticed that the amoeba was grinning menacingly; almost exactly the same smile he gave to her and SpongeBob last time. The squirrel felt a shiver crawl up her spine.

Plankton was the first out of everyone to say anything. "I thought I'd kept you three down here long enough," he started. "However, that's not to say I'm going to spare you." Almost immediately after he said that, the madman pulled out his gun and aimed it at the trio.

Gasping at the weapon, SpongeBob, Sandy and Patrick went into a group hug, visibly terrified. Plankton liked that – or much rather, Plankton's subconscious liked that. Plankton himself wasn't enjoying threatening harm to the three friends, but his subconscious – the voice, the inner demon – was enjoying every second of it. The fat idiot of a starfish and his nuisance friends had to pay – not that the last inkling of Plankton's sanity was thinking that.

The amoeba stepped forward, still holding aim of the gun towards the trio – most specifically, Patrick's head. The voice knew that he had to die first; but Plankton was begging himself not to pull the trigger. Sandy, however, was busy thinking of an escape route from death. As her brain worked lightning fast, a plan formulated in her mind. It was incredibly flawed, and there was a high chance that she would be killed too – but she had no time to perfect it. There was only one chance of escape now, and the squirrel had to take it.

What happened next came by so quickly, nobody in the room had a chance to properly process everything. Taking no heed of her safety, Sandy charged right towards Plankton, catching him off-guard by stamping on him with her foot. The move may have been comical, but it gave SpongeBob time to try and help Patrick onto his feet, and Sandy to steal Plankton's gun – she didn't want him trying to shoot behind them as they escaped. After stealing the gun, Sandy rushed towards Patrick and slung his left arm over her shoulder, carrying him from the side. SpongeBob deduced what she was trying to do, and slung Patrick's right arm over him.

The trio then ran away from Plankton as quick as they could. Patrick was in visible pain from being forced to walk on his injured leg, but he tried not to make a big deal out of it – escape was much more important right now. All three of them were panicking, wondering whether the monster that had been squashed behind them had somehow recovered and was beginning to chase them. Neither wanted to look back – they didn't have the time to. They had to rush through the maze that was the Chum Bucket's underground corridors and find the exit before Plankton captured them again.

But if SpongeBob, Patrick and Sandy had bothered to glance back, they would have noticed Plankton staring at them, rooted to his spot. Unbeknownst to the trio, the amoeba's last piece of sanity was giving them a head start. Naturally, the voice was frustrated at this. It was losing control of Plankton! Once again, Plankton and the voice began to fight mentally; Plankton trying to put up the best fight he had done so far. He had to keep fighting for as long as possible – he desperately wanted to give the three a chance of freedom.

But Plankton knew he was going to succumb to the voice again – and though he didn't know it, this battle between his sanity and his monster would be the last.

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><p><strong>Phew! Another long chapter!<strong>

**By the way: the word "trepidation" is another term for anxiety or worry, if anyone wanted to know. ;)**

**Read and review as usual.**


	18. Chapter 17: Bloodshed

**We're now reaching the epic climax of this story! I feel that this chapter was rushed, but I hope you guys will still enjoy it. ;)**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 17 – Bloodshed<strong>

SpongeBob, Patrick and Sandy continued to flee through the Chum Bucket's corridors, their surroundings blurring past, their hearts pounding. Panic had completely consumed the trio – they were taking random corners in hope of losing Plankton, even though he might not have been chasing them anyway. None of the three had dared to look back since their escape from the amoeba's clutches.

The only thoughts consuming their minds were the words, "Run away." Suddenly, Sandy dived into another corner, dragging Patrick and SpongeBob with her and forcing the two to twist their bodies to her direction – made even more awkward with SpongeBob still holding Patrick up with his arm. It was difficult and rather painful, but nobody cared. They had to find their way out of the steel maze before Plankton could catch them – never mind the possibility that all three of them were being paranoid, and that they were only imagining the amoeba coming after them.

After what felt like endless running through the infinite corridors, SpongeBob felt a glimmer of light penetrate the corner of his eye. Taking the precious little time he had to glance at his side, the sponge spotted a double-door at the end of one of the multiple routes in the maze. The light he had turned to was trying to filter through the square windows on both sides of the door. The sight was an oddity, considering the previous doors the trio had passed by in the maze had either blackened windows (which suggested empty rooms), or no windows at all – but knowing this, SpongeBob's heart began to quicken further. That door he was staring at was probably the exit. There was only one way to find out.

"Guys, this way!" the sponge shouted and pointed down the corridor. Both Sandy and Patrick's eyes widened when they saw the fragments of light passing through the door's windows. Almost instantly, the trio began to thunder down the corridor, their potential gateway to freedom inching even closer as took huge running steps towards the double-door. In the surge of excitement and fear, SpongeBob and Sandy briefly forgot that they were still carrying an injured starfish on their shoulders. Despite Patrick being in intense pain from being forced to run on his poor leg, he still tried not to complain. There was no time to complain, anyway - Plankton was probably still following them.

As they began to approach the double-door, Sandy outstretched her free arm, getting ready to push her side of the door open – never mind the possibility that it might have been locked. Taking little notice of that potential scenario, SpongeBob outstretched his free arm too, preparing to burst open his side of the double-door. He prayed to Neptune himself that the door wouldn't be locked – if they ended up slamming their bodies into it now, then all their efforts so far would likely be in vain. Nevertheless, all three of them had to try. As they reached the front of the double-door, the trio closed their eyes, Sandy and SpongeBob's arms still outstretched. _Dear Neptune, _SpongeBob pleaded to himself again,_ please don't let this door be locked..._

...But the next thing the three knew, they were in the Chum Bucket's dining room.

The sheer force of the three opening the double-doors almost made them trip up. As they took a few seconds to catch their breath, Sandy was the first to realise where they were. She was also the first to notice where the light was coming from – a hole in the roof, where sunlight was passing through and shining on the doors. It was very strange, but it seemed that Plankton's lack of money to renovate the Chum Bucket had somehow saved their lives. Not wanting to waste time celebrating their escape from the maze, SpongeBob and Sandy picked up Patrick the same way they had done before, and headed towards the dining room exit – to the outside world.

Already, they knew where they would be going to first – the Krusty Krab.

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><p>It was closing time at the Krusty Krab, and Mr. Krabs had not forgotten about his planned visit to the Chum Bucket.<p>

As he and Squidward closed up the restaurant for the day, Krabs took a chance to look at the weather outside – dark and gloomy, with heavy implications of an oncoming storm. The weather was dreadful for the summer, let alone the end of the day, but Krabs was feeling superstitious at that moment. Maybe it was just a instinct left over from his sea-faring days, but he had a feeling that something horrible was going to happen – something potentially fatal to both himself and to people he knew. Ever so briefly, he thought of talking to Squidward about his concerns, but he had not forgotten about the tiny incident in his office that morning. As a consequence, Krabs decided against it.

After the two had completely finished locking up the restaurant, Mr. Krabs was about to let Squidward go home until he spotted three mysterious figures in the far distance through the glass doors. As he stepped towards the doors and stared curiously, Squidward quickly took notice of his actions and asked, "What are you looking at, sir?"

Krabs didn't reply. The figures seemed to be coming closer – were they heading towards the Krusty Krab? Maybe this was even the beginning of his dark prediction from the weather...? Squidward, who had not stopped watching Krabs' every move, became impatient and decided to look through the doors as well – he too spotted the figures. _If they want to order after closing, they'd better forget it! _the cephalopod thought, thinking that the figures were customers arriving too late.

After a minute or two, the figures began to take shape. Krabs could now make out both a square and a star body, while being unable to identify a taller third. _Wait... could it be...?_ Looking even closer now, to the point that his entire face was up against the glass, the crab continued to stare at the three people in the horizon who seemed to be coming towards the restaurant. After another minute, the strangers' faces finally became visible, and Krabs' heart almost froze in realisation.

It was SpongeBob, Patrick and Sandy – with the most terrified looks he had ever seen on the three of them, running in what seemed to be in terror.

Quickly deducing that something incredibly serious must have happened to them (and somewhat-glad that he finally got to see SpongeBob again after a few days of worrying), Mr. Krabs stepped out of the restaurant and shouted, "SpongeBob! Are you alright, me boy?"

He wasn't sure if the sponge had actually heard him or not, because the trio continued to run towards the Krusty Krab without responding to him. They were running so quickly that Krabs thought that all three of them were going to end up crashing into him – but thankfully, they managed to slow down as they approached the Krusty Krab's entrance. Once they had stopped running completely, the sponge, starfish and squirrel paused to catch their breaths, leaving Krabs and Squidward alone to wonder what exactly had happened to them to make them rush all the way to the Krusty Krab.

As SpongeBob began to recover his normal breathing patterns, he looked up to his boss with an expression that would haunt the old crab for the rest of his days – an expression of horror, panic and destroyed innocence. Krabs immediately wanted to ask the sponge what had just happened to him and his friends, but he couldn't open his mouth. Words were failing him right at that moment.

SpongeBob became the first person to speak. "Mr. Krabs..." he started, still panting heavily, "...We need sanctuary. All three of us. Because Plankton's trying to kill us."

That last sentence alarmed Krabs. This must be the event that the weather had seemingly predicted – that awful feeling he had had just before. Plankton was trying to kill his fry cook? Knowing the accusations the sponge had made against him before, Krabs wasn't going to take any risks or make any more mistakes.

"Come inside, SpongeBob," the crab beckoned to him. "You two as well. You can tell us the whole story inside."

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><p>After the trio had calmed down a bit inside the Krusty Krab, they began to recite the events that had recently happened to them while seated around one of the dining tables. They refused to miss out any important details – beginning from after the previous incident in the restaurant, SpongeBob and Sandy told Krabs and Squidward how they had decided to confront Plankton in the dead of night (while admitting now that it was an incredibly stupid decision on their part), but ended up being captured by him instead – along with the creepy way the amoeba had acted towards them. Patrick explained how he felt that something was wrong the next day, and how he followed his gut feeling to the Chum Bucket (which he too admitted was a foolish choice.) Finally, all three of them recounted how they were reunited in the Chum Bucket's underground prison cells, and how they managed to escape successfully. Mr. Krabs and Squidward hardly interrupted them while they were telling the tale of their horrific ordeal.<p>

Once the trio had finished their story, the Krusty Krab fell to an eerie silence. No-one knew exactly why, but SpongeBob guessed that it was because of the revelation of everything – that Plankton was really a serial killer that had been left undetected for years. He, Sandy and Patrick had been trying to tell people that since the first time the starfish managed to escape, but no-one believed them – at least, not many. Mr. Krabs definitely seemed to be treating their words seriously. But now, more concrete proof was out through a testimony by survivors. Krabs now knew why he hadn't been able to contact SpongeBob since the latter's time in the hospital, and he was completely horrified. Even the normally-indifferent Squidward was disturbed by the turn of events at the end of his day. As the silence continued, Patrick managed to gain the courage to say something:

"Soo... How can we stop Plankton now?"

The four surrounding the starfish all looked at him. Then SpongeBob replied, "Well, I don't trust the cops anymore," letting disgust break into his voice.

"But they may be our only option now, SpongeBob," Sandy pointed out. Squidward nodded in agreement, even though he couldn't exactly remember what they had said before about the police force – most likely because of previous ignorance.

"Is there anything else we can do?" SpongeBob asked the group almost desperately. But before anyone could suggest anything, they heard the shooting of a bullet and the sound of glass breaking.

Everyone in the room immediately turned to the doors. What they saw struck terror into their very souls...

It was Plankton – and he had just fired a clean shot through the glass doors of the Krusty Krab.

Krabs and Sandy quickly stood up from their seats, while Patrick began to cower in his place, unable to look away from the amoeba even though he wanted to. Plankton had managed to shatter a hole in the door that he could easily crawl through (aside from sharp glass scraping against him), and he looked awful appearance-wise – his green skin had turned into an odd shade of green-grey, and the pupil in his eye had completely shrunk and was dilated, like he had gone crazy – which was now pretty much the truth. As Plankton stepped into the Krusty Krab, both Sandy and Mr. Krabs entered into a fighting position, getting ready to take on the monster approaching them. SpongeBob and Squidward could only sit there and watch the horror starting in front of them.

"I'd actually thought you would be good by not going to old man Krabs," Plankton began, "but I was an idiot. Of_ course_ you would go to him. Why did I trust you like that?" SpongeBob and Sandy recognised Plankton's tone of voice as the same one he'd used when they had confronted him – only it somehow managed to be _even_ _more_ creepy. The squirrel and Krabs stepped towards the amoeba, despite the fact that the latter was wielding a gun.

"You two are very brave, you know," Plankton commented, "but with courage comes foolhardiness. One sudden move and I can shoot you point blank right here," he warned. Krabs and Sandy were undeterred, however.

"Plankton, we want to end this right here, right now," Sandy stated sincerely. "You've been going too far for too long."

Plankton chuckled. "Once I'm through with you all, you won't be able to stop me." Then he prepared to pull the trigger.

That was enough for Sandy and Krabs to spring into action. Everything that happened next went by so quickly that no-one was entirely sure what they had done afterwards. But the next thing everyone knew, two shots had been fired at Mr. Krabs and Sandy, SpongeBob and Patrick had ran to shelter in a corner, and Squidward had jumped into the boat where the cash register was and was dialling 911 on a nearby telephone. Once the sudden shock began to wear off, SpongeBob and Patrick could see Sandy and Krabs trying to fight off Plankton – but then the sponge noticed something red floating from the squirrel's arm.

_Blood_. Plankton had managed to pierce her suit and injure her.

Blind fury began to fuel SpongeBob, but he was too scared of everything that was going on to try and help her. He felt like a wimp at that moment. Squidward, meanwhile, had managed to get through to an operator and whispered on the phone that there was a gunman at the Krusty Krab, and that police were required immediately. Once he was notified of a confirmation by the operator, he placed the phone handle down gently so Plankton wouldn't hear him. All the cephalopod could do now was hide in the boat with his head down.

As the situation continued, SpongeBob and Patrick began to hear some distant sirens outside. Curious, Patrick turned his neck to see through the large window and saw blue and red lights going down the road – was it the cops? Squidward heard the sirens too, and briefly lifted his head up so he was looking over the side of the boat – yes! They were finally here!

As the police came closer to the restaurant, Sandy, Mr. Krabs and Plankton began to break out of their brawl, as the sound of the sirens were becoming too loud for them to ignore. The amoeba's face turned into one of horror when he realised what he was hearing. _Barnacles – __**dirty barnacles!**_ It was the cops! Who had managed to contact them?! But there was no time for speculation now. Plankton had found himself completely corned by the law and a group of vigilantes.

With the news of a loose gunman threatening a public place, the Bikini Bottom Police Force had also requested backup by an armed S.W.A.T team. Immediately after arriving in front of the scene, the S.W.A.T team stormed the building, aiming their weapons at Krabs, Plankton and Sandy.

"Don't shoot the crab and the squirrel!" SpongeBob cried out, thinking that the the S.W.A.T team was about to shoot at Sandy and Krabs. Thankfully, they noticed that the tiny amoeba in front of them was the gunman, so they changed their target, giving Krabs and Sandy the chance to back away to safety. All Plankton did was stare at the team coldly.

The gig was up – but Plankton's subconscious was not gonna go down without a good fight.

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><p><strong>First part of the climax done! I'm gonna be taking a short break during Christmas now, so expect to see the second part next January. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year, y'all! :D<strong>


	19. Chapter 18: Standoff

**Second part of the climax. While I don't think that this chapter was as epic as I wanted it to be, I'm sure you'll still enjoy it regardless.**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 18 – Standoff<strong>

"_Drop your weapon and put your hands up __**RIGHT NOW!**_"

Plankton ignored the officer from the S.W.A.T team. He wasn't going to listen to anyone anymore. No-one larger than him was going to push him around. For once, he had complete control over the situation, and he was not going to throw the chance into the wind.

The officer became understandably irritated at the amoeba. "_**Drop your weapon!**_" he shouted again, aiming his machine gun at Plankton, but he continued to ignore him. As he carried on standing in the middle of the Krusty Krab sternly, Plankton began plotting what to do next – the sponge, the starfish, the squirrel, the crab, and the cephalopod _**all**_ had to pay. Patrick had now successfully escaped from his grasp twice, and had told SpongeBob and Sandy on him – who in a small chain reaction, had then told Mr. Krabs. Even though he acknowledged that Squidward was an innocent bystander in all of this, Plankton had seen him at the table when he'd started his ambush on the Krusty Krab – he most likely knew everything too.

But who should be the one to die first? It only took a short moment for Plankton to figure out who – _Patrick_.

Taking in an almost-inaudible deep breath, the amoeba planned his next cause of action. Suddenly, he started to sprint in his right direction, prompting the S.W.A.T team to fire at him. Unbelievably, they missed him, but they left multiple bullet holes in the walls, tables and chairs. When Plankton managed to reach the corner where SpongeBob and Patrick were huddling in, both Mr. Krabs and a still-injured Sandy gasped, beginning to expect the worst. Squidward lifted his head above the boat once again, watching what was going on after the rain of bullets he had just heard. The moment was completely tense.

Plankton stepped further towards Patrick and SpongeBob, aiming his gun at the former. The two friends hugged each other tighter, shivering harder than they had ever done in their lives. They couldn't attempt a mad dash for safety, lest the amoeba fired at them – they were cornered. The S.W.A.T team couldn't shoot at Plankton in case they accidentally injured the sponge and the starfish, and Krabs and Sandy couldn't figure out what the madman was planning to do next – Plankton's movements were so erratic that it was becoming difficult to coordinate a new strategy. If the squirrel and the crab could deduce the amoeba's actions quickly, then they would have attempted to save the sponge and the starfish immediately.

Once the amoeba approached SpongeBob and Patrick, all the duo could do was stare at him. A deathly silence surrounded the Krusty Krab, as time seemed to stop for everyone. No-one knew what was going to happen next, expect for Plankton, who was shaping up the entire scenario at that moment. He was right – he _was_ in control of everything.

Plankton began to speak quietly, so that only Patrick and SpongeBob could hear him. "This is both yours and Karen's fault, Patrick," he began, startling the starfish with his preposterous accusation. "If she hadn't have helped you escape, then none of this would have happened. Our lives could have continued simply! But no... you had to escape and tell on me. And look where we are now."

"_That's not true!_" Patrick cried out, obviously loud enough for everyone else in the restaurant to hear. "This is all _your_ fault, Plankton! If you never started killing innocent people all those years ago, then _**none**__ of __**this**_ would have happened!"

The Bikini Bottom police became horrified – they now had a long-time murderer who was previously undetected on their hands; and from the sound of things, it seemed to be an extremely sick case, too. Maybe even one of the worst cases in Bikini Bottom history.

Plankton brought his head down for a brief moment, thinking of what he wanted to say next. By this point, he had now completely lost his sanity, which was probably why he pinned the strange blame on Patrick and his dead wife just then. To Plankton's subconscious, it _was_ the starfish and Karen's fault – even more so the latter. However, if the amoeba's sanity had still been lingering in his mind, he would have acknowledged that everything he'd done was his fault, and most likely would have atoned for his sins.

_Atone for his sins..._

Finally losing all sense of reality, Plankton stared up at the starfish and the sponge with a crazed, inhuman look that the two would never forget in their darkest dreams. Then he uttered one simple word; "Die."

The madman only came as far as aiming his gun at Patrick's temple and holding his finger on the trigger before the S.W.A.T team fired a sea of bullets at him. SpongeBob, Patrick, Sandy, Mr. Krabs and Squidward all took cover as Plankton was shot by the team, none of them daring to look up until the noise stopped completely.

After that, there was another long silence.

Once the bullets stopped firing, everyone glanced up (or in SpongeBob and Patrick's case, glanced down) and looked towards where Plankton was. The sight they were greeted with was horrifying.

The amoeba was lying face-down on the restaurant floor, a large puddle of blood quickly forming around him. Nobody was going over to his body and trying to help him, prompting Sandy (who was clutching her injured arm) to go near him until a doctor finally entered the scene and told her to stay back. The silence continued as the doctor rolled Plankton's body over and examined him – his eye was still wide open, terrifying the sponge and the starfish who had an unfortunate front-row view of the whole thing. Finally, the doctor gave a verdict:

"He's dead."

The silence once again carried on, but this time, it was not one of terror – it was one of melancholy. Then a quiet whimper from SpongeBob broke it. He was not crying of sadness, however – he was crying from happiness. Noticing that his friend was crying, Patrick decided to join him, prompting Sandy to shed tears too.

They had done it.

The cycle of death had been broken.

The nightmare was over.

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><p><strong>All I need to write now is the epilogue and the story will officially be finished. I hope you've enjoyed reading the climax of this story, and I will try to write the epilogue to this as soon as possible. <strong>

**Read and review, as always. **


	20. Epilogue

**And finally, after nearly two years of updating, I'm uploading the final chapter to this story – the epilogue. I'm pretty sure you all want to find out the ending to this, so I'm just gonna stop talking (typing?) and let you read it. ;)**

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><p><span><strong>Epilogue<strong>

After the events at the Krusty Krab, Plankton's body was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was quickly pronounced dead on arrival. Naturally, something as exciting as a restaurant shootout was not going to be easily ignored by the media. Once the story began to break out in Bikini Bottom and areas outside it, it became the biggest news story of the week – by the time news of Plankton being a serial killer was leaked, it circulated like wildfire, and became the biggest story of the month. Bikini Bottom as a whole was swept into a media frenzy, as reporters came in droves from all corners of the ocean, desperate to know what was going on.

Taking note of Patrick's accusations against the newly-deceased Plankton, the Bikini Bottom Police Force opened up an investigation into him and examined the Chum Bucket. With the starfish by their side, the investigation team deployed to the Chum Bucket explored the restaurant's extensive underground corridors and ultimately came upon a grisly discovery – a freezer containing the flesh of fish. Although Patrick recoiled at the sight and stench of the flesh again, he explained to the team that the remains belonged to those that had gone missing in the town over the years. If Plankton had been alive now, it would have been enough evidence to send him to prison for life.

As the investigation into Plankton continued, allegations against the corruption of the Bikini Bottom Police Force finally came to light. Along with evidence by SpongeBob and Sandy (who recounted their time when they reported Patrick's disappearance to the officer), there was enough controversy to warrant a complete shakeup as to how the department was run – major suspects in the allegations were fired, and new standards were set in place. There were other multiple cases where the force failed badly, but Plankton's case was the main catalyst – how did they fail to suspect a likely culprit who had already committed multiple crimes (predominantly theft) in the past? It was a difficult question to answer, but the shakeups brought the residents of Bikini Bottom hope that the local law enforcement would do their job better – even if it was just a tiny ray of it. During this time, the investigation team in the Chum Bucket also recovered the remains of Karen, breaking Patrick's heart further.

Three weeks later, Plankton's body was released from the Bikini Bottom coroner, and a funeral was immediately arranged. However, since the amoeba had no relatives (aside from thousands of hillbilly plankton that he had little to no contact with), the funeral was planned by the Bikini Bottom council. It was a simple, quick funeral – he was buried in a very tiny, basic coffin, in an equally-tiny grave with a small, simple headstone stating his name and lifespan. It was expected that little to nobody would turn up to the burial, but it turned out not to be the case – SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star, Sandy Cheeks, Eugene Krabs, Squidward Tentacles, and the families of those who went missing (and were no doubt killed by Plankton) appeared to watch the burial.

The group of five had arrived first, so they had the best view of the burial. The crowd behind them stayed silent, trying to watch what was going on. The weather was bleak outside, as it was trying to rain, creating an atmosphere of sadness and anger. Once the undertakers had finished burying Plankton completely, the crowd began to drift away – but the sponge, the squirrel, the starfish, the cephalopod and the crab stayed for a while longer.

The darkest emotions were whirling around the group as they continued to stare at Plankton's grave. Finally, Mr. Krabs spoke:

"I hope you're happy, Plankton," he started, with venom in his tone. "You've managed to escape justice through death. But I bet you're in Davy Jones' Locker right now." All five of them continued to stare angrily at the grave – it might not have usually been like them to act that way, but all of them had been through so much. They would never be the same people they were before ever again.

Knowing that they had stayed for long enough, the group decided to leave the graveyard. As they slowly stepped away, SpongeBob had a sudden realisation he had to tell.

"Sandy?" he began.

"Yeah, SpongeBob?" she replied.

"Do you think karma got Plankton in the end?" SpongeBob had never been the most philosophical person in the world, but he couldn't get the thought of karma out of his head – the amoeba had killed so many people, but in the end, he was killed himself. It almost seemed like a fitting punishment.

Sandy thought about SpongeBob's question. Even if she had not thought about karma before, she was probably believing in it now the sponge had mentioned it. Taking a breath, she replied, "Yeah. Maybe karma did manage to catch up with him."

SpongeBob nodded his head, acknowledging the answer. It was starting to rain properly, so the group began to walk faster towards the exit. Taking one last look at Plankton's grave before they left, a sudden gust of wind pierced SpongeBob's ears, and for a brief moment, he thought he heard Plankton's maniacal laughter. However, it disappeared just as quickly as he heard it. As the group left the graveyard, it began to rain normally, leaving the last resting place of possibly the worst murderer Bikini Bottom had ever seen at mercy to the weather.

And as the wind properly picked up, Plankton's laughter from beyond echoed across the town, shivering those that heard it...

**THE END**

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><p><strong>...And that's a wrap, folks! I would like to give a huge thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favourited and followed this story – especially those who have been following it since the very beginning. Seriously, thank you all so much. This was my first huge fanfic project, and at one point, I was worried that I would never actually finish it. I'm really glad I didn't give up and disappoint you all.<strong>

**Now, what's next in store, you're probably asking me. I do have plenty of other SpongeBob stories I want to tell, but right now, I want to try and start work on stories for other fandoms. But don't lose hope, though – I will write another SpongeBob story one day. **

**See y'all later! :D**

**Sincerely, Third Kind.**


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